As discussed in the blog post Most Colorado Firms have Fewer than Twenty Workers, BLS data shows that Colorado has about 171,000 private sector firms. Only 238 of those firms, or 0.1%, have 500 or more workers. There are just under 19,000 firms, or 11.0%, with 20 to 499 workers. The majority of firms have fewer than 20 workers. Almost 152,000 firms, or 89%, are in this category.
In Q3 2012, Colorado’s private sector firms paid about $23.1 billion in payroll. About $13.0 billion, or 56.4%, is paid to workers at firms with 20 to 299 employees. About $6.2 billion, or 26.8%, is paid to companies with fewer than 20 workers. Finally, total wages at the firms with 500 or more workers is 3.9 billion, or 16.8% of total wages.
In other words, about 17% of total wages are paid at 0.1% of the state’s firms (the largest). Meanwhile, about 27% of the state’s wages are paid at 89% of the firms. Higher wages are paid at firms with more employees.
Average annual wages for firms with less than 20 workers is $43,304, firms with 20 to 499 workers have average annual wages of $47,423 and firms with 500 or more workers have average annual wages of $65,048.
Clearly, large and small firms are important to the economy for different reasons.
©Copyright 2011 by CBER.