It probably won't surprise you to learn 61 percent of Americans say they would prefer self-employment to working for someone else, a higher share than in 25 European countries, according to the most recent data available from the EU Flash Eurobarometer Entrepreneurship Survey. But it will likely surprise you to learn small business is a bigger part of the economy of most European nations than our own. Could American policymakers learn anything about improving small business support from Europe, which the media tell us is a place of high taxes, exorbitant public-sector spending, and, lately, poor economic management? Based on the data, I say yes.
Despite the rhetoric extolling small business in this country, the small-company share of the U.S. economy has been gradually shrinking. Big Business's share of employment now accounts for 50.4 percent of private-sector jobs, as compared with 45.5 percent in 1988. Similarly, Big Business's share of revenue was higher in 2007 than it was in 1997, according to the latest available data from the Small Business Administration.
To read the full, original article click on this link: To Encourage Small Business, Learn from Europe - BusinessWeek
Author: Scott Shane
