Business Startups Reach Highest Level in 14 Years

I like the entrepreneurial attitude, and it's shown to its fullest in new data from the Kauffman Foundation. The group released a new study showing that last year business startups reached their highest level in 14 years. That exceeds the number of startups during the peak 1999 to 2000 tech boom.

Entrepreneurship rates by race show that African-Americans experienced the largest increase in entrepreneurial activity between 2008 and 2009, according to the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity. Rising from 0.22 percent in 2008 to 0.27 percent in 2009, the rate was the highest over the 14 years of reported data but remains below other racial groups. Latinos and Asians 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 (55-64 years) also experienced a large increase in business-creation rates from 2008 to 2009, contributing to a two-year upward trend to 0.40.

The number of new U.S. businesses created during the 2007–2009 recession years increased steadily year to year. In 2009, the 340 out of 100,000 adults who started businesses each month represent a 4 percent increase from 2008.

In 2009, 558,000 new businesses were created each month (0.34 in 2009). The index increased for the second straight year, from 0.30 percent in 2007 to 0.32 percent in 2008.