2009 Kauffman Index on Entrepreneurial Activity – Look! Green Shoots!
It appears that Spring is in the air for our moribund economy. According to the latest Kauffman Index on Entrepreneurial Activity, business startups in 2009 reached their highest level in 14 years – even exceeding the number of startups during the peak 1999-2000 technology boom.
While much of the increase is certainly due to “entrepreneurship by necessity“ as laid off workers facing a bleak job market started new businesses, the signs are none-the-less encouraging. By ethnicity, new business starts were highest among African-Americans, which is consistent with findings from our post on business cooperatives. By age, business starts were highest among people ages 35-44, followed closely by those 55-64. A good sign is the significant increase in new business starts in the Midwestern and Southern states.
The most surprising finding? The State of Washington had one of the lowest entrepreneurial rates . . . and the City of Seattle had the lowest rate of the U.S.’s largest 15 metropolitan areas:
