I try to read Up and Running each day.  It’s a blog by Tim Berry for new (and old) entrepreneurs.  I noticed a post today about whether entrepreneurship is growing or declining.

Tim sends you along to Scott A. Shane, who asked “Are We Becoming Less Entrepreneurial?” on a New York Times blog.  He provides three charts, each of which provides some sort of evidence that entrepreneurship is declining.

One of the charts consists of OECD Factbook 2009 data about self-employment.  But, I learned from Small Business Labs (which I also found via Tim Berry) that others do not believe self-employment is falling.  They point out that perhaps the OECD data cited in the Times excludes entrepreneurs who own corporations or other forms of incorporated businesses such as LLC’s.  When you include incorporated self-employment, then the total ranks of self-employed definitely seem to be growing.

Next, I decided to look up the OECD’s definition of self-employed myself.  They say, “Note that all persons who work in corporate enterprises, including company directors, are considered to be employees.”  I think this means that entrepreneurs who own incorporated entities are considered employees instead of self-employed; although, I cannot be sure.

Finally, I looked for a bit more evidence.  A trusted source is the Kauffman Foundation.  The Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity was put together by Robert W. Fairley of the University of California-Santa Cruz for the years 1996 to 2007.

This data seems to contradict the charts implying that entrepreneurship is waning.  I addition, it’s pretty easy to find anecdotal evidence and predictions that business ownership is growing, especially due to factors which include the bad economy and an aging population.

 

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