December 12, 2024
Michigan’s private sector firms are categorized by their March 2024 employment into three groups based on data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program. Small firms employed less than 50 workers, medium firms had 50 to 499 workers, and large firms employed 500 or more workers. According to the data, 96.2 percent of the state’s private businesses were small firms with under 50 workers, while medium and large firms represented less than four percent of businesses in Michigan.
| Firm Size | Employment | Number of Firms | Share of Firms |
| Small | Less than 50 | 264,064 | 96.2 |
| Medium | 50-499 | 9,661 | 3.5 |
| Large | 500+ | 755 | 0.3 |
Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, Michigan Center for Data and Analytics
In March 2024, Michigan’s private sector employment totaled above 3.7 million workers. Most of the employees worked in small and medium-sized businesses, which combined for 64.9 percent or 2.4 million private sector workers. Although large firms made up only 0.3 percent of private sector businesses, they represented 1.3 million workers or 35.1 percent of total private sector employees.
The Professional, scientific and technical services sector registered the greatest number of small firms with 41,695, followed by Healthcare and social assistance and Other services except public administration at 31,705 and 25,304, respectively. These top three industry sectors contributed 98,704 businesses, or 37.4 percent, of total private sector small firms.
Of all industries, the Accommodation and food services sector posted the highest employment within small firms, with 169,100 workers. This was followed by Healthcare and social assistance with 148,700 and Professional, scientific, and technical services at 126,300. These industry sectors accounted for 444,100 or 36.3 percent of total private sector small firm employment.
Approximately 44.0 percent of all medium-sized firms were categorized into just three industry sectors. The most medium-sized firms were in the Manufacturing sector (1,823), followed by Healthcare and social assistance (1,450), and Accommodation and food services (957) sectors.
Manufacturing also had the most employment in medium-sized firms compared to the other private sectors, with around 250,900 workers. The second highest employment for this group was in the Healthcare and social assistance sector, which included 191,800 employees. This was followed by Retail trade, the third largest sector within medium-sized firms with 106,300 workers. These leading industry sectors employed 548,900 or 45.0 percent of total employment for medium-sized firms.
With 158 firms, the Manufacturing sector continued to have more large firms than any industry. The Healthcare and social assistance sector had the second highest count of large firms at 131. The Retail trade sector ranked third, with 80 large firms. Collectively, these industry sectors contributed 48.9 percent of total private sector large firms.
The Manufacturing industry posted the greatest number of workers in large firms with 300,900, Healthcare and social assistance employed 269,500, while Retail trade was made up of 228,800 workers. Together, the workers in these top industry sectors accounted for 60.5 percent of total large firm employment.
Michigan firms paid $66.4 billion in total wages during the first quarter of 2024. Large firms contributed $26.3 billion (39.5 percent) of total private sector wages, followed by medium firms who paid $22.1 billion (33.3 percent), while small firms paid out $18.1 billion (27.2 percent).
Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, Michigan Center for Data and Analytics
Firms with less than 50 workers dominated the total share of all firms throughout Michigan. Conversely, large employers had a minor share of overall firms but employed the greatest number of workers and paid the highest total wages. A detailed breakdown of various firm sizes during the first quarter of 2024 can be found on the Michigan labor market information website.
Each March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) produces detailed size data by establishment for all states. For more information on establishment breakdowns by state and industry, visit the Establishment Size Data page and Employment and Wages Data Viewer on the BLS website.
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