Franchise owners and small businesses are the real owners of the American economy and offer the best solution to the world's economic ills, Jim Amos, CEO of Tasti D-Lite and Planet Smoothie, told CNBC on Friday.
"Franchises and small businesses are the heroes of our economy," Amos said.
The U.S. franchise industry consists of more than 825,000 businesses that employ more than 9.1 million people. The industry consists of 9 percent of the private output of the U.S. economy, according to reports from the International Franchise Association.
"This is larger than any other two economic sectors combined," Amos said.
"Franchises and small business are people who understand what it means to make a payroll, that are impacted significantly by upward and downward trends and that often have their life savings on the line," Amos said.
The IFA expects new franchises to create 168,000 jobs in 2012.
The franchise industry is not just creating jobs and experiencing growth in the U.S. The franchising sector in the U.K. created 73,000 jobs in the past year as the number of franchise units increased by 4 percent to a total of 40,100, and growing franchise businesses have been taking on more part-time staff, according to a survey of the British Franchise Association and Natwest.
Despite the weakness in the UK economy, the relative contribution of the franchise industry to the U.K. economy increased by 8 percent over the past year, reaching 13.4 billion pound ($21 billion), according to a survey of the British Franchise Association and Natwest.
- By CNBC.com's Liza Jansen
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