WOMEN OWN 33% OF FIRMS\Businesses called 'driving force' of U.S. economy.

Byline: John D. McClain Associated Press 

Women now own one-third of the nation's domestic businesses and have become a major force in the U.S. economy, according to a study submitted to President Clinton on Monday.

"Woman-owned businesses are growing in economic power as well as sheer numbers," said the study by the administration's Interagency Committee on women's Business Enterprise and the National Women's Business Council.

"In the period 1987 to 1992, sales and receipts of women-owned companies increased by a whopping 131 percent to $643 billion," it found.

Woman-owned companies totaled 6.4 million in 1992, employed 13.2 million workers and had sales and receipts of $1.6 trillion - "more than the gross domestic product of all but a few countries," it said.

By 1994, the number of women-owned firms had grown to 7.7 million and had become "one of the principal driving forces behind economic growth and job creation in our nation today."

Still, women often complain that investment bankers and other sources of investment capital do not take their business efforts seriously.

"Despite their advances, women-owned businesses face significant obstacles, including limited access to capital, difficulty in competing for government contracts and lack of information about where to get assistance," the study found.

The report was designed in part to offset that indifference.

"In the increasingly competitive global economy of the 21st century, we as a nation must leverage all of our entrepreneurial resources if we are to achieve our greatest economic potential," it said.

The report was presented to Clinton by Laura Tyson, the committee chairwoman and head of the president's National Economic Council, and Lillian Vernon of New York City, the Women's Business Council chairwoman.

The study found that women are expanding their enterprise and ingenuity throughout the economy, particularly the service sector.