[Economic Report of the President (1999)]
[Administration of William J. Clinton]
[Online through the Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]



CORPORATE PROFITS AND FINANCE


[[Page 437]]


Table B-96.--Business formation and business failures, 1955-98
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Business failures\1\
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Index  of                                 Number of  failures      Amount of current liabilities
net                              ------------------------------     (millions of dollars)
business   New business                         Liability size   ------------------------------
Year or month                      formation  incorporations  Business                   class                     Liability size
(1967=      (number)      failure           --------------------                   class
100)                     rate\2\    Total                         Total   -------------------
Under   $100,000               Under   $100,000
$100,000  and over             $100,000  and over
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1955..................................................      96.6       139,915          42     10,969    10,113      856       449.4    206.4      243.0
1956..................................................      94.6       141,163          48     12,686    11,615    1,071       562.7    239.8      322.9
1957..................................................      90.3       137,112          52     13,739    12,547    1,192       615.3    267.1      348.2
1958..................................................      90.2       150,781          56     14,964    13,499    1,465       728.3    297.6      430.7
1959..................................................      97.9       193,067          52     14,053    12,707    1,346       692.8    278.9      413.9

1960..................................................      94.5       182,713          57     15,445    13,650    1,795       938.6    327.2      611.4
1961..................................................      90.8       181,535          64     17,075    15,006    2,069     1,090.1    370.1      720.0
1962..................................................      92.6       182,057          61     15,782    13,772    2,010     1,213.6    346.5      867.1
1963..................................................      94.4       186,404          56     14,374    12,192    2,182     1,352.6    321.0    1,031.6
1964..................................................      98.2       197,724          53     13,501    11,346    2,155     1,329.2    313.6    1,015.6
1965..................................................      99.8       203,897          53     13,514    11,340    2,174     1,321.7    321.7    1,000.0
1966..................................................      99.3       200,010          52     13,061    10,833    2,228     1,385.7    321.5    1,064.1
1967..................................................     100.0       206,569          49     12,364    10,144    2,220     1,265.2    297.9      967.3
1968..................................................     108.3       233,635          39      9,636     7,829    1,807       941.0    241.1      699.9
1969..................................................     115.8       274,267          37      9,154     7,192    1,962     1,142.1    231.3      910.8

1970..................................................     108.8       264,209          44     10,748     8,019    2,729     1,887.8    269.3    1,618.4
1971..................................................     111.1       287,577          42     10,326     7,611    2,715     1,916.9    271.3    1,645.6
1972..................................................     119.3       316,601          38      9,566     7,040    2,526     2,000.2    258.8    1,741.5
1973..................................................     119.1       329,358          36      9,345     6,627    2,718     2,298.6    235.6    2,063.0
1974..................................................     113.2       319,149          38      9,915     6,733    3,182     3,053.1    256.9    2,796.3
1975..................................................     109.9       326,345          43     11,432     7,504    3,928     4,380.2    298.6    4,081.6
1976..................................................     120.4       375,766          35      9,628     6,176    3,452     3,011.3    257.8    2,753.4
1977..................................................     130.8       436,170          28      7,919     4,861    3,058     3,095.3    208.3    2,887.0
1978..................................................     138.1       478,019          24      6,619     3,712    2,907     2,656.0    164.7    2,491.3
1979..................................................     138.3       524,565          28      7,564     3,930    3,634     2,667.4    179.9    2,487.5

1980..................................................     129.9       533,520          42     11,742     5,682    6,060     4,635.1    272.5    4,362.6
1981..................................................     124.8       581,242          61     16,794     8,233    8,561     6,955.2    405.8    6,549.3
1982..................................................     116.4       566,942          88     24,908    11,509   13,399    15,610.8    541.7   15,069.1
1983..................................................     117.5       600,420         110     31,334    15,572   15,762    16,072.9    635.1   15,437.8
1984..................................................     121.3       634,991         107     52,078    33,527   18,551    29,268.6    409.8   28,858.8
1985..................................................     120.9       664,235         115     57,253    36,551   20,702    36,937.4    423.9   36,513.5
1986..................................................     120.4       702,738         120     61,616    38,908   22,708    44,724.0    838.3   43,885.7
1987..................................................     121.2       685,572         102     61,111    38,949   22,162    34,723.8    746.0   33,977.8
1988..................................................     124.1       685,095          98     57,097    38,300   18,797    39,573.0    686.9   38,886.1
1989..................................................     124.8       676,565          65     50,361    33,312   17,049    42,328.8    670.5   41,658.2

1990..................................................     120.7       647,366          74     60,747    40,833   19,914    56,130.1    735.6   55,394.5
1991..................................................     115.2       628,604         107     88,140    60,617   27,523    96,825.3  1,044.9   95,780.4
1992..................................................     116.3       666,800         110     97,069    68,264   28,805    94,317.5  1,096.7   93,220.8
1993..................................................     121.1       706,537         109     86,133    61,188   24,945    47,755.5    947.6   46,807.9
1994..................................................     125.5       741,778          86     71,558    50,814   20,744    28,977.9    845.0   28,132.9
1995..................................................       (3)       766,988          82     71,128    49,495   21,633    37,283.6    866.1   36,417.4
1996..................................................       (3)       786,482          80     71,931    49,667   22,264    29,568.7    914.9   28,653.8
1997..................................................       (3)       798,779          88     83,384    56,050   27,334    37,436.9  1,111.3   36,325.6
---------------------------
Seasonally adjusted
---------------------------
1997:Jan..............................................       (3)        72,992     ........     7,359     4,956    2,403     3,526.2     92.1    3,434.2
Feb...............................................       (3)        69,265     ........     6,793     4,532    2,261     1,220.9     88.2    1,132.7
Mar...............................................       (3)        63,587     ........     7,435     4,933    2,502     1,405.5     99.4    1,306.2
Apr...............................................       (3)        67,587     ........     7,645     5,074    2,571     2,782.8    108.4    2,674.4
May...............................................       (3)        65,354     ........     7,181     4,824    2,357     1,574.0     97.2    1,476.8
June..............................................       (3)        62,756     ........     6,890     4,684    2,206     1,225.4     94.5    1,130.8

July..............................................       (3)        72,707     ........     7,265     4,843    2,422     3,180.0     98.3    3,081.7
Aug...............................................       (3)        60,465     ........     6,825     4,690    2,135     1,822.2     86.4    1,735.8
Sept..............................................       (3)        66,819     ........     7,146     4,785    2,361     3,292.9     94.1    3,198.7
Oct...............................................       (3)        69,945     ........     7,426     5,071    2,355     1,406.7     99.2    1,307.5
Nov...............................................       (3)        58,154     ........     6,022     4,021    2,001     1,715.5     80.3    1,635.2
Dec...............................................       (3)        69,041     ........     5,231     3,563    1,668     1,817.8     72.5    1,745.3

1998:Jan..............................................       (3)        66,416     ........     6,229     4,574    1,655     2,985.4     65.3    2,920.0
Feb...............................................       (3)        66,125     ........     5,847     4,624    1,223     2,472.8     47.8    2,425.0
Mar...............................................       (3)        63,408     ........     6,345     4,817    1,528     1,033.0     60.1      972.9
Apr...............................................       (.......     6,560     4,286    2,274     1,114.6     87.4    1,027.2
May...............................................       (.......     5,904     3,962    1,942     1,392.4     83.7    1,308.7
June..............................................       (.......     6,281     4,151    2,130     1,311.2     85.9    1,225.3

July..............................................       (.......     6,575     4,378    2,197     2,535.4     89.7    2,445.8
Aug...............................................       (.......     5,810     3,944    1,866     1,613.3     76.8    1,536.5
Sept..............................................       (.......     5,682     3,715    1,967     2,578.6     81.1    2,497.4
Oct...............................................       (.......     5,590     3,684    1,906     1,042.0     81.5      960.5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Commercial and industrial failures only through 1983, excluding failures of banks, railroads, real estate, insurance, holding, and financial
companies, steamship lines, travel agencies, etc.
Data beginning 1984 are based on expanded coverage and new methodology and are therefore not generally comparable with earlier data.
Data for 1997 and 1998 are preliminary and subject to revision.
\2\Failure rate per 10,000 listed enterprises.
\3\Series discontinued in 1995.

Sources: Department of Commerce (Bureau of Economic Analysis) and The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation.