Since the economic crisis broke out, entrepreneurship has attracted increased attention as a key path to economic recovery. I was happy to see that entrepreneurs have been set apart from some of the negative perceptions of big business and the blame being placed on large financial institutions for the economic meltdown. The question is whether such recognition of entrepreneurs as an engine for growth and innovation translated into concrete pro-entrepreneurship policies.
This past year brought new, sobering data that defied conventional wisdom that all businesses contribute to job growth at least to some degree. “The Importance of Startups in Job Creation and Job Destruction” by economist Tim Kane documented that net job growth occurs in the U.S. economy only through startup firms. While older companies lose 1 million jobs annually, new firms add an average of 3 million jobs in their first year. Moreover, during recessionary years, job creation at startups remains stable, while net job losses at existing firms are highly sensitive to the business cycle. Simply put, entrepreneurs are the primary engines of job creation in the country. If you zoom in further, you will see new firms that scale—those that grow in revenues and jobs—are especially important. More precisely, the top 1 percent of all companies generates 40 percent of new jobs, and the vast majority of these firms are no more than five years old. If we look even closer at the most rapidly growing young firms (those between ages 3-5 years), they represent less than 1 percent of all companies in the economy, but account for 10 percent of new jobs created each year (see High-Growth Firms and the Future of the American Economy).
To read the full, original article click on this link: A Look Back at Entrepreneurship in 2010 - Entrepreneurship.org
Author: Jonathan Ortmans is president of the Public Forum Institute, a non-partisan organization dedicated to fostering dialogue on important policy issues. In this capacity, he leads the Policy Dialogue on Entrepreneurship, focused on public policies to promote entrepreneurship in the U.S. and around the world. In addition, he serves as a senior fellow at the Kauffman Foundation.
