Subscribe
Close
  • Free for qualified executives and consultants to industry

  • Receive quarterly issues of Area Development Magazine and special market report and directory issues

Renew

The Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity: 1996-2010

According to the Kauffman Foundation's Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, new business creation was strong in recent years, partly due to the recession.

3/9/2011
The Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity gauges new U.S. business creation. By surveying new businesses in their first month of strong business activity, the index provides the earliest report of American new business development.

The study considers a 15-year period from 1996 to 2010. During that time, some key changes have occurred in the rates and locations of entrepreneurial activity. Here are some key findings:

• In 2010, approximately 340 of 100,000 adults (0.34 percent of the population) created a new business every month, translating to about 565,000 new businesses created monthly.
• As employer business creation has decreased, entrepreneurial business creation has increased. This trend may be due to the high unemployment rates of the recession, which encouraged individuals to begin their own businesses.
• Immigrants were more than twice as likely to start a business each month in 2010 than native Americans.
• Entrepreneurship for the youngest age group (25-34 years old) rose from 0.24 percent in 2009 to 0.26 percent in 2010.

Exclusive Research