Florida: Weak link in the middle market

The job-creating power of middle market companies is a beautiful thing, according to a new large study, with on major hiccup: Florida is the worst performer in this sector in the country.
Middle market companies, defined as revenues between $10 million and $1 billion, make up 0.7% of U.S. businesses, states the inaugural Middle Market Power Index from American Express and Dun & Bradstreet. That's a total of 136,000 firms.

The economic contributions of middle market firms far outweigh its total. The report states those contributions include slightly more than one in five dollars, 21%, of U.S. business revenues, and one in four employees, 28%, in the private sector. On a nationwide scale those firms employ an average of 368 workers and generate $45.1 million per firm per year.

“Our first-ever look at the economic characteristics of middle market firms underscores their clout and the significance of their contribution to our economy,” American Express Global Corporate Payments President Susan Sobbott says in a release. “Since 2008, middle market companies have been the unsung heroes of employment growth.”

But Florida is nearly invisible in all this economic activity. The state ranks 50th in the country in share of middle market firms compared to total firms, with 6,715 middle market firms. That's 0.36% of the total firms, the report shows. Only two other states have a total that's less than one-half of 1%: Louisiana, at 0.44% and Colorado, at 0.48%.

Another nugget: Several states that are leaders in the amount of middle market firms to total firms are from the Northeast and Midwest, places from which Florida tries to poach relocating companies. Those states include Illinois, at 1.1% and Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, all at 1%.