Sharon McLoone writes about small business at washingtonpost.com, and her most recent posts merit a read.  Today she points to a helpful, state by state analysis of small business activity put out by the Small Business Administration, titled Small Business Profiles for the States and Territories.   The title may not be the most captivating, but McLoone is right in pointing out that it is a great resource for checking out small business activity in specific regions.

McLoone also highlights a Kauffman Foundation sponsored report on the role business startups play in creating new jobs. 

The data show that employment accounted for by U.S. startups from 1980 to 2005 was about 3 percent per year. That's a small fraction of overall employment, but the jobs from startups reflect new jobs, which is a large percentage compared to the average annual net employment growth of the U.S. private sector for the same period -- about 1.8 percent. This pattern suggests that -- if you exclude the jobs from new firms -- the U.S. net employment growth rate is negative on average, according to the study.