Small Firms to Keep Lagging Back in U.S. Expansion: Economy

Small companies will probably remain a missing element of the current U.S. expansion as their role in driving growth continues to wane, according to economists at Citigroup Inc.

Payrolls at firms with fewer than 500 employees accounted for less than 50 percent of the total workforce for the first time in 2008 during the recession and have barely recovered, according to their research. After hovering close to 50 percent, small businesses’ share of gross domestic product began dropping in 2001 to reach about 45 percent in the latest available data.