SOUTHEAST TEXAS RECORD

HOUSTON � Gov. Rick Perry today credited small businesses with helping strengthen the state economy and creating thousands of jobs for Texans. To honor the significant impact small businesses have on the state's economy, the governor has declared this week Texas Small Business Week.

"Small businesses offer the freedom to chart one's course, the spirit to make things happen, and the potential for jobs, investment and prosperity," Gov. Perry said. "That's why we work so hard to nurture small businesses in Texas, and that's why our economy has outshone so many other states, even during the worst of the recent recession."

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) most recent data, in 2006 nearly half of the state's private sector employees worked for one of Texas' more than 386,000 small businesses, which the SBA defines as a business with fewer than 500 employees. Nationwide, from 1989-2008, small businesses created 93.5 percent of all net new jobs, the equivalent of 4,000 new jobs a day, a large number of those in the critical areas of science, technology and health care.

"Small businesses are the diverse life-blood of the Texas economy, from the family ranch in the panhandle to the trucking company in Houston," said Senator San Patrick. "Texas has an unmatched business climate that Governor Perry and I will continue through low taxes and limited government."

"The National Federation of Independent Business salutes Texas small business owners as they work to create jobs and drive the Texas and national economy forward. NFIB works diligently to protect small business owners' right to own, operate and grow their businesses," NFIB Texas Executive Director Will Newton said. "In Texas we are blessed to have elected leadership that understands the need to create a climate that encourages the entrepreneurial spirit and allows it to prosper."

Texas' economy continues to receive national accolades thanks to our low taxes, reasonable and predictable regulatory climate and skilled workforce. Last month, the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council ranked Texas first among big states and second overall among states with the lowest tax burden on small businesses, taking into account all taxes, from capital gains to unemployment to state gasoline levies. Additionally, Texas was ranked as the 2009 Best Business Climate by Business Facilities magazine