Policymakers are looking to small businesses as an important source of job growth in the economic recovery. But bankruptcies picked up steam last year in some large metropolitan areas such as San Bernardino and Los Angeles, reflecting the pressures still plaguing many small-business owners from the recession.
The San Bernardino-Ontario-Riverside metropolitan area experienced a 10 percent jump in small-business bankruptcies in 2010 over the year before, between the first and third quarters, said Equifax, a consumer-credit-reporting firm. Meanwhile, San Diego and Oakland saw double-digit declines in bankruptcies of businesses smaller than 100 employees. Equifax analyzed Chapter 7, 11 and 13 bankruptcies.
