(Sun Sentinel) — Minority firms have been an engine of job growth for the U.S. economy in recent years, outpacing growth within the general business community for most of the last decade. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of people employed at minority-owned businesses jumped 27 percent — from 4.7 million to 5.9 million — between 2002 and 2007. Job growth for non-minority-owned firms was less than 1 percent during that time. In those five years, the number of minority-owned firms in the United States grew 46 percent, to a total of 5.8 million. Meanwhile, the number of firms in the overall economy expanded at less than half that rate. Minority businesses are emerging as leading exporters, too. They exported to 41 countries on six continents between 1992 and 2009, according to the U.S. Export Import Bank.
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