small businesses hit hard. how many had to shut their doors. here with more is diane macedo. the recession claimed more than 170,000 small businesses in the u.s. between 2008 and 2010. the report shows a number of small businesses operating within the country s met poll can and micro politan areas dropped to 6.79 million in 2010 from 6.96 in 2008. self-employed americans took a 12 point dive since neovember. 2007. one month when it officially hit to june 2009 more businesses shut down in 2009 than did in 2007. official statistics aren t available for 2011 or 2012 yet but those numbers are expected to pick back up. that is due to people who are laid off starting small businesses because they had no