big public companies in the us aren’t particularly representative of american businesses at large for much of the pandemic that has been a blessing for the stock market in the months ahead it could be a curse a quick look through the companies in the sp 500 shows that a lot of them are in the business of making and selling stuff out of the 500 216 are classified as manufacturers or retailers but commerce department data show that manufacturers and retailers account for only about onesixth of private us firms and labor department data show they account for a little more than onefifth of privatesector jobs