Global Entrepreneurship Monitor: U.S. Entrepreneurs Created Majority of 6.8M New Jobs Since 2003
As
Entrepreneurial behavior
continues to fuel the engine of innovation and growth around the world, U.S. entrepreneurs have created most
of the 6.8 million new jobs since 2003, according to the eighth annual Global
Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) by Babson College and London Business
School.
These entrepreneurs are young (under 35), educated (52% with one or more degrees), and continue to choose the entrepreneurial, opportunity-driven lifestyle over more stable -- and frequently -- more lucrative careers.
Other Key U.S. Findings
- 30% of new business start-ups offer more in terms of innovative products and services compared to established business owners.
- U.S. entrepreneurs are early-adopters of current technologies: 32% of start-up companies use the latest compared to just 16% of established businesses.
- Start-up entrepreneurs are the most optimistic: 20% expect to create more than ten jobs and 50% growth in five years compared to just 7.5% of established business owners.
- VC in the U.S. has leveled out to $22-$24 billion in the last three years -- way off its 2000 peak of more than $100 billion -- but is a five-fold increase over the level in the early 1990s. New Trends: VC has shifted from software to biotech and the wireless sector of telecom.
- U.S. public policy is highly supportive of its entrepreneurs. The biggest concern for entrepreneurs is the increasing burden of employee healthcare.
Among Key Global Findings,
entrepreneurial activity rises in countries with low GDPs. Countries with
similar levels of GDP tend to have similar entrepreneurial activity.
Entrepreneurs everywhere are taking advantage of opportunities; still
countries with lower GDP have the highest levels of necessity-driven
entrepreneurs. France and Germany -- where necessity
entrepreneurship is high -- are the exceptions, most likely because of
labor reforms which encourage business start-ups
over unemployment services.
Directed by Babson College and London Business School, and released
today, GEM is the world's largest research project focusing on
entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. Now operating in some 42 countries
across the world, it monitors levels and types of entrepreneurial
activity. It brings together key policy makers, business leaders, and
academics in a global network of influence. Visit http://www.gemconsortium.org/
for more details and to download the GEM 2006 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor
report.
