Small businesses and jobs
From here:
Small businesses play an important part in the United States economy. There are about 22.4 million non-farm firms in the U.S, according to 2001 data. Small businesses represent more than 99 percent of all employers. They also employ 51 percent of private-sector workers, 51 percent of workers on public assistance, and 38 percent of workers in high-tech jobs. Small businesses account for nearly all of the self-employed, which comprise of 7 percent of the work force.
In addition, small businesses produce two-thirds to three-quarters of all the net new jobs. They also produce 51 percent of private sector output as well as represent 96 percent of all exporters of goods. Small businesses play a role in federal contracting as well. Small businesses obtain 33.3 percent of federal prime and subcontract dollars.
Small businesses create two-thirds to three-quarters of net new jobs. However, the small firm's share of employment is about 50 percent. The reason it stays at 50 percent, even though small businesses create more than half of the new jobs, is because in creating jobs, some small business, or firms, become large firms. Of 110.7 million non-farm private sector workers in 1999, small firms with fewer than 500 workers employed 55.7 million and large firms employed 55 million. Smaller firms with fewer than 100 employees employed 40.1 of the 55.7 million that fell within the fewer than five hundred category.
This would seem to suggest that large corporations, although not without influence, don't swing quite as much weight in the economy as one would think. Unfortunately, in a mixed economy, a large corporation can swing a lot more weight with the government than a small one, unless the latter get together somehow.