More Americans have become entrepreneurs during the Great Recession than at any time in the past 15 years, and most of them are going it alone, according to the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity.
The index reports that 0.34 percent of American adults created a business per month in 2010, or 565,000 new businesses, a rate that remained consistent with 2009 and represents the highest level of entrepreneurship over the past decade and a half. At the same time, however, the quarterly employer firm rate has dropped from 0.13 percent in 2007 to 0.10 percent in 2010.
Latinos experienced the largest entrepreneurial activity increase between 2009 and 2010, with a business-creation rate of 0.56 percent in 2010, up from 0.46 percent in 2009. Asian entrepreneurial activity rate increased from 0.31 percent in 2009 to 0.37 percent in 2010. Both African-Americans and non-Latino whites experienced declines in entrepreneurial activity rates.
Entrepreneurship growth was highest among 35- to 44-year-olds, rising from 0.35 in 2008 to 0.40 in 2009. The oldest age group in the study (55- to 64-year-olds) also experienced a large increase in business-creation rates from 2008 to 2009, contributing to a 2-year upward trend to 0.40.
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