The turnover rate (combined birth and death rates) for U.S. companies has remained consistently in the 31%-to-32% range, affected only marginally by the state of the economy.
* * *(figures in thousands)
| Total number of companies | New and successor companies: Number | Rate | Terminations: Number | Rate | |
| 1982 | 4,738 | 781.0 | 16.7% | 706.6 | 15.2% |
| 1983 | 4,825 | 804.1 | 17.0 | 716.9 | 15.1 |
| 1984 | 4,995 | 854.9 | 17.7 | 685.6 | 14.2 |
| 1985 | 5,121 | 880.9 | 17.6 | 754.1 | 15.1 |
| 1986 | 5,207 | 899.8 | 17.6 | 814.2 | 15.9 |
| 1987 | 5,388 | 911.5 | 17.5 | 730.8 | 14.0 |
| 1988 | 5,504 | 886.1 | 16.4 | 769.5 | 14.3 |
| 1989 | 5,564 | 897.7 | 16.3 | 837.2 | 15.2 |
| 1990 | 5,636 | 915.1 | 16.4 | 844.1 | 15.2 |
| 1991 | 5,680 | 864.2 | 15.3 | 820.4 | 14.6 |
| 1992 | 5,635 | 929.9 | 16.5 | 917.1 | 16.3 |
Note: "Birth and death rates" are defined relative to the number of companies that existed in the previous year; "total number of companies" includes all full-time nonfarm companies that pay federal withholding taxes (that is, companies with employees); "new companies" represent new applications with the U.S. Department of Labor; "succes-sors" are companies that were taken over by new or established companies (the total includes spin-offs); "terminations" represent companies either out of business or with no employment for at least two years; 1992 numbers represent activity for the first half of the year only.
Source: Adapted by the Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, from unpublished data provided by the Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor.
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