... result of jobs gained and lost by an establishment in a quarter Source: U.S Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, from data provided by the U.S Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor ... http://papers.nber.org/papers/4492, 1993 Headd, Brian and Bruce Kirchhoff, “The growth, decline and survival of small businesses: An exploratory study of life cycles,” Journal of Small Business Management, pp 531-550, October ... small businesses and large businesses And the government often defines small as firms with fewer than 500 employees Using this definition, one-half of the private sector is populated by small businesses...