In certain parts of the country, entrepreneurship is booming. A well-educated creative class clusters in tight networks that easily attract bank loans, birth new businesses and create exciting jobs. But this opportunity paradise is far too concentrated, and even within these areas a whole segment of the population seems forgotten, namely women and women of color.
A new Third Way report from economists Susan Coleman and Alicia Robb found that less than 20% of all businesses with paid employees are owned by women.
This statistic is not only shocking — it helps explain the nation’s economic unease. New businesses are often the engines for future job growth. While some of these minnows quickly perish, many others survive, expand and hire.
When entrepreneurship becomes so concentrated, it means that economies in many areas lack key drivers of growth. Of the 3,142 counties in the United States, according to the non-partisan Economic Innovation Group, just 20 are home to half of all new businesses. Furthermore, in 2014 only 8% of all businesses were new, compared to 13% in 1980. Something is missing.
…
By: Nydia Velazquez and Jon Cowan, New York Daily News
Read the full article here.
