It has been well established that Middle Market companies are where much of America's recent economic growth has taken place. A new study further establishes that much of that growth is coming from women- and minority-owned Middle Market companies.

The study, released in September 2015 by American Express and Dun & Bradstreet, found that women- and minority-owned Middle Market companies are growing six times faster than Middle Market companies as a whole.

These diverse companies still make up a relatively small segment of the Middle Market economy, making up five percent (minority-owned) and six percent (women-owned) of the 136,000+ Middle Market companies in the U.S., according to the report.

But they are growing at a rate that has to encourage Middle Market economists and diversity champions alike. From 2008-2014, the number of Middle Market companies in the U.S. (defined in this study as having annual revenues of $10 million-$1 billion) grew by 4.1 percent. By comparison, the number of minority-owned Middle Market companies grew by 22.1 percent during that same time period, while the number of women-owned Middle Market companies increased by 23.6 percent, according to American Express and Dun & Bradstreet.

Revenues for women- and minority-owned Middle Market companies grew by similar percentages during the same time frame. And employment at these businesses grew by nearly 40 percent during the past six years.

However, the report found that most of these minority- and women-owned Middle Market companies have room to grow. Nearly 60 percent have annual revenues of $10 billion-$19 billion), putting them on the small end of the Middle Market.

Click here to read the full American Express/Dun & Bradstreet report - Middle Market Power Index: The Growing Economic Clout of Diverse Middle Market Firms.

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