Entrepreneurship has long been thought of as the engine of the American economy, but research is showing that the number of people starting their own businesses have been in steady decline in the last three decades. According to Census data, the number of new companies on the map has dropped 28% between 1977 to 2011. It is a nationwide phenomenon, and touches even the Silicon Valley, the country’s start-up Mecca.
The drop-off is most drastic among one demographic group: millennials. The Los Angeles Times, citing the Census Bureau, reports that people between the ages of 20 to 34 started close to 23% of all start-ups last year, down from nearly 35% in 1996.
What are the reasons behind this decline? Have you tried starting a business? What were the obstacles? What motivated you to start a business? What kept you from doing so?
Guests:
Ian Hathaway, founder and managing director of Ennsyte economics in San Francisco, and co-author of a recent study released by the Brookings Institution looking at the state of entrepreneurship at 360 metropolitan areas in the US.
Barry Lynn, Director of the Markets, Enterprise and Resiliency Initiative at the New America Foundation