As drivers of innovation, entrepreneurs are key to a thriving economy. Yet the startup ecosystem lacked a timely measure of its relative health and a way to gauge its directional trends. Enter the Inc. Entrepreneurship Index, a new economic indicator that monitors the condition of the U.S. startup economy in a data-rich analysis expressed in a quarterly score.
The latest reading of the Index, clocking in at 85 for 2018's second quarter out of a total score of 100, shows U.S. entrepreneurial activity staying fairly steady. The number represents an ebbing from a score of 87 in the first quarter, continuing an easing from its 2014 high. This metric reflects the persisting challenges that small-business owners face in the tight hiring market, even as access to capital opens up for them, as Inc. data scientist Arnobio Morelix, explains in his column.
