The "2015 State of Women-Owned Businesses," published in late September, discusses the number of women-owned businesses in the U.S. and it confirmed that women-owned businesses will continue to flourish, generate revenue, and create employment opportunities.

The number of women-owned firms in the U.S. continues to soar, surpassing 9.4 million enterprises and representing 30 percent of that nation's businesses. These businesses have generated nearly $1.5 trillion, increasing 79 percent since 1997. Moreover, women-owned firms employ nearly 8 million workers (excluding owners), providing 1-in-7 jobs among privately owned businesses.

Since 1997, approximately 608 new women-owned firms were launched each day, and that number jumped to 887 per day over the past year. Women-owned firms have increased at 1-1/2 times the national average. These firms are budding in every state and industry, with the fastest growth in educational services, which has seen a 67 percent increase of women-owned firms since 2007, compared to 21 percent of overall growth in that sector.

The greatest number of women-owned firms can be found in health care and social assistance industries, including doctors and dentists, residential care facilities and child care providers (17 percent). Additionally, 16 percent of firms are in auto and appliance repair, beauty salons and pet-sitting services. Also, approximately 13 percent are in the professional/scientific/technical services industry; 11 percent were in administrative support and waste management services; and 10 percent were in retail trade.

The states that witnessed women entrepreneurship at an increased rate are Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, North Dakota and New York. In these states and beyond, women from multicultural populations are increasingly becoming business owners. Less than two decades ago in 1997, there were just under 1 million firms owned by non-Caucasian women, representing one in six women-owned firms (17 percent). Today, there's an estimated 3.1 million firms owned by women from non-white populations, representing 33 percent of firms.

Since 1997, women of African-American, Asian-American, Latina, Native American/Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander descent have collaboratively outnumbered the white women-owned firms. The report written about women-owned businesses indicated that the diversification of women-owned firms is one of the most remarkable trends of the past decade.

Women-owned firms will continue to increase at rates that exceed the national average, multicultural women-owned firms leading the growth. According to the report, women-owned firms are the only bright spot with regards to privately held company job growth, where there was a dramatic employment decrease among smaller, privately held companies.

Women- and equally owned firms, which represent 47 percent of U.S. firms, grew to 14.7 million as of 2015, generating nearly $3 trillion in revenues. They employ nearly 16 million people, contribute 13 percent of total employment and generate eight percent of firm revenues. Over the past eight years, approximately 38 percent of new businesses launched in the U.S. economy have been women-owned firms.

Of the 484 multicultural women-owned firms launched each day in 2014, 223 firms were owned by African-American women, 168 firms were owned by Latina women, and 105 firms were owned by Asian-American women. Nationwide, women-owned businesses have recovered from the effects of the recession, although some of the effects of the recession linger in states such as Nevada, Florida, Delaware, Arizona, Maine and Idaho.

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