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Is Small Still Beautiful? Literature Review of Recent Empirical Evidence on the Contribution of SMEs to Employment Creation

Deijl, Claudia LU ; de Kok, Jan and Veldhuis-Van Essen, Christi (2013)
Abstract
There is once again an increased demand for interventions supporting small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) because of the widely held believe that they provide most of the jobs. In order to answer the question whether pro SME policies are justified on factual grounds the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) came out with a new study collecting the recent empirical evidence on the job creation effects of SMEs in developing countries. The key finding is that small is still beautiful because this enterprise segment creates most of the new jobs when compared to large enterprises.

Based on reviewing almost 50 recent rigorous empirical studies on the job creation of SMEs... (More)
There is once again an increased demand for interventions supporting small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) because of the widely held believe that they provide most of the jobs. In order to answer the question whether pro SME policies are justified on factual grounds the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) came out with a new study collecting the recent empirical evidence on the job creation effects of SMEs in developing countries. The key finding is that small is still beautiful because this enterprise segment creates most of the new jobs when compared to large enterprises.

Based on reviewing almost 50 recent rigorous empirical studies on the job creation of SMEs the new publication concludes that the role of SMEs in job creation is considerable. They provide two thirds of all formal jobs in developing countries. In low income countries this share is even higher with 80%. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
publishing date
type
Book/Report
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Developing countries, Employment creation, Poverty alleviation, SMEs
publisher
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
ISBN
978-92-2-127557-2
978-92-2-127556-5
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
cfac576e-a5c4-4802-b5f3-7989d9bffd46
alternative location
http://www.ilo.org/employment/Whatwedo/Publications/employment-reports/WCMS_216909/lang--en/index.htm
date added to LUP
2016-05-18 16:43:22
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:18:24
@techreport{cfac576e-a5c4-4802-b5f3-7989d9bffd46,
  abstract     = {{There is once again an increased demand for interventions supporting small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) because of the widely held believe that they provide most of the jobs. In order to answer the question whether pro SME policies are justified on factual grounds the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) came out with a new study collecting the recent empirical evidence on the job creation effects of SMEs in developing countries. The key finding is that small is still beautiful because this enterprise segment creates most of the new jobs when compared to large enterprises.<br/><br/>Based on reviewing almost 50 recent rigorous empirical studies on the job creation of SMEs the new publication concludes that the role of SMEs in job creation is considerable. They provide two thirds of all formal jobs in developing countries. In low income countries this share is even higher with 80%.}},
  author       = {{Deijl, Claudia and de Kok, Jan and Veldhuis-Van Essen, Christi}},
  institution  = {{Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)}},
  isbn         = {{978-92-2-127557-2}},
  keywords     = {{Developing countries; Employment creation; Poverty alleviation; SMEs}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  title        = {{Is Small Still Beautiful? Literature Review of Recent Empirical Evidence on the Contribution of SMEs to Employment Creation}},
  url          = {{http://www.ilo.org/employment/Whatwedo/Publications/employment-reports/WCMS_216909/lang--en/index.htm}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}