STRICTLY BUSINESS: SMALL BUSINESS IS BIG BUSINESS

Troy Wilson is carrying some important papers to the White House this week.

Wilson, chief executive officer of First National Bank of Sikeston, has been visiting with area businesses during past few weeks, compiling information to be presented during the White House Conference on Small Business being conducted in Washington.

The conference allows small businesses to give input on government policies, such as taxation, capital formation, international trade, environmental issues and other issues, said Wilson, who was selected as one of more than 1,100 delegates to attend the session. Views compiled by delegates from across the country will be presented to the Clinton and Congress following the five-day conference.

Thousands of small business owners throughout the nation have met with delegates to the national forum. Wilson conducted two open forums in Southeast Missouri, at Cape Girardeau and Sikeston, to gather input for his trip. He also talked with hundreds of other business representatives.

"I have a large stack of information to go to Washington," he said.

Small business is important to the economy of the United States.

Small businesses employ 54 percent of the private work force in the nation and account for 52 percent of all sales in the nation.

"Those totals are higher in the Southeast Missouri area," Wilson said. "Small business here is even more important. Small business provides the livelihood of more than 75 percent of the people and pays the majority of taxes."

In Cape Girardeau small businesses provide 95 percent of the jobs, which translates into 30,000 people working.

During a recent work force survey, conducted by a Southeast Missouri State University task force in the 8th Congressional District, 98 percent of the 350 businesses that participated were small businesses.

How many small business are in the United State?

Some 21.5 million business tax returns were filed for 4.6 million corporations, 1.6 million partnerships and 15.3 million sole proprietorships during the 1993 tax year.

Many of the companies represented by the tax returns are small, part-time businesses. In fact, fewer than 14,000 would qualify as large businesses if fewer than 500 employees defined a small or medium-sized business. Only 5.7 million businesses are large enough to have 500 employees.

During one three-year period, 1988 to 1990, all of the net new jobs in the U.S. economy were created by small busineses. During this period, the performance of the nation's smallest companies -- those with fewer than 20 employees -- was extraordinary. They created 4.1 million jobs. During the same period, large companies reduced their work forces by 500,000 jobs and job losses in the 20 to 499 bracket totaled 850,000.

Unemployment edges down

The nation last month suffered its biggest job loss in four years, but the overall unemployment rate edged down slightly, to 5.7 percent.

The Labor Department's report on unemployment last week showed that 101,000 jobs were lost in May, with layoffs centered in manufacturing and construction, a surprise to analysts who had been forecasting an increase in payroll employment of around 175,000 jobs.

However, New hiring activity is expected to remain at a high level in Southeast Missouri during the third quarter.

Construction companies will be the most aggressive employers of new workers, said Barbara Larkins, manager of the Cape Girardeau Manpower office.

"Overall, expectations for a healthy employee growth is good for July, August and September," Larkins said. "No less than 50 percent of companies interviewed plan to recruit more workers."

Manpower Inc., a temporary help company with more than 2,000 offices in 38 countries, conducts an "Employment Outlook Survey" on a quarterly basis.

The Southeast Missouri survey for the third quarter indicates that 37 percent of the businesses surveyed will leave its work force intact, while 13 percent are preparing for staff reductions.

"Hiring activity typically peaks during the summer months," Larkins said. "In our area, the outlook is about the same as a year ago, when 53 percent indicated a staff increase."

The area outlook is much stronger than the national forecast, where 28 percent of the companies interviewed say they will add staff, with 62 percent expecting no change. Only 7 percent indicated a cut back.

Nationally, The summer job prospects, according to the Manpower survey, appear best in construction, transportation/public utilities, education, services and public administration.

The quarterly survey is based on telephone interviews with more than 15,000 public and private employers in 468 U.S. cities, including Cape Girardeau.

96.7 percent employment here

Meanwhile, more than 33,250 people had jobs in Cape Girardeau County in April.

With the work force at 34,385, that means 96.7 percent of the people were working, noted Missouri Job Service officials at the Cape Girardeau office. That means an unemployment rate of 3.3 percent, down from the 3.4 percent reading a month ago.

Cape Girardeau County's unemployment rate is the lowest in Southeast Missouri. Perry County, has a 4.3 percent unemployment rate, is second on the list.

Perry County has a work force of 9,638, with 9,220 people working. Bollinger, with a 5.2 percent unemployment rate, has a work force of 4,782, with 4,531 working.

Missouri's unemployment rate for April was 4.7, down from the 5.0 percent reported in March.

The Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations labor market indicates total employment in the state of 2,673,900. The report shows 130,400 unemployed.

A review of the past 12 months in Missouri indicated that payroll employment has grown by 95,800 jobs. Most of the growth was in the service producing section. Service industries grew by 33,500 jobs. Other major employment growth during the year include retail trade, up 25,000; construction, up 7,200 jobs; local government, up 6,600, and transportation land utilities, up 5,100 jobs.

The unemployment rate in Illinois increased in April, to 5.6 percents, up from the 4.8 percent reading of the previous month.

Sixteen of 21 Southern Illinois counties experienced slight increases in rates, but 18 of the 21 counties are substantially below their 1994 levels.

Alexander County, which dipped below the double-digit mark in March, at 8.6 percent, fell to 10.4 percent in April. Jackson and Massac counties had the lowest unemployment rates, at 5.1 and 4.7 percent respectively.

Riverboat `Queen s" to visit

The riverboat "Queens" will make their first stop at Cape Girardeau in early July.

The Delta Queen and Mississippi Queens will dock here July 3 during the annual New Orleans to St. Louis riverboat race.

Delta Queen Steamboat Co. Inc. riverboats will make nine stops at Cape Girardeau this summer.

The Delta Queen will make two stops, the Mississippi Queen will dock four times and the new American Queen will stop three times.

The stops:

Delta Queen: July 3 and Sept. 16.

Mississippi Queen: July 3, July 9; Aug. 27 and 30.

American Queen: July 24; Sept. 5; Oct. 18.

Boat notes:

Illinois riverboat casinos had a record month in May.

A record 2.2 million gamblers visited the state's 10 casino sites. Gamblers for the first time lost more than $100 million in one month.

Two of the 10 casinos reported record attendance.

With the closing of two St. Louis area riverboat casinos last month because of flooding, gamblers flocked to two of the nearby Illinois casinos.

More than 405,000 people boarded the Casino Queen at East St. Louis in May. Another 246,500 visited the Alton Belle Casino.

East St. Louis averaged almost 11,000 people a day, while Alton averaged more than 7,000 a day.

Players Riverboat Casino at Metropolis continued to average more than 5,000 gamblers a day.

Some 164,909 visitors went through the turnstiles at Metropolis.

UNEMPLOYMENT RATES

Below are unemployment rates for area counties in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois, with April figures first, followed by March figures, and April 1994 figures.

Southeast Missouri

Bollinger: 5.2, 6.0, 6.8.

Butler: 5.4, 6.6, 6.9.

Cape Girardeau: 3.3, 3.4, 4.3.

Dunklin: 7.7, 8.2, 8.0.

Madison: 7.1, 8.3, 9.1.

Mississippi: 8.8, 9.9, 11.2.

New Madrid: 8.7, 7.7, 7.1.

Pemiscot: 13.0 13.4, 15.8.

Perry: 4.3, 4.6, 4.8.

Scott: 5.5, 6.6, 6.3.

Ste. Genevieve, 5.0, 6.1, 5.6.

Stoddard: 6.7, 7.4, 8.0.

Missouri: 4.7, 5.0, 4.8.

Southern Illinois

Alexander: 10.4, 8.6, 11.5.

Pulaski: 12.1, 10.2, 10.5.

Massac: 5.7, 4.5, 5.9.

Union: 9.7, 9.8, 11.4.

Jackson: 5.1, 4.9, 5.1.

Randolph: 7.5, 6.6, 8.7.

Williamson: 8.3, 7.7, 10.1.

Johnson: 8.4, 9.8, 9.8.

Illinois: 5.6, 4.8, 5.6.

U.S.: 5.6, 5.7, 6.2