Small Businesses Win Some Regulatory Relief: New at Reason

A few of our more perceptive government officials seem to realize they’ve been choking off entrepreneurship.

J.D. Tuccille writes:

Christmas has come and gone, but anybody struggling to keep a small business afloat or pondering an entrepreneurial venture might be digging under the desiccated blue spruce (take it out, already) for a missed present or two. The good news is that, as tough as politicians make it to launch your own firm, they’ve recently gifted us with a bit of relief from their depredations—and more may be on the way.

At the moment, starting a business isn’t exactly a growth industry. “[T]otal entrepreneurial activity (TEA) in the United States declined by two percentage points to 12 percent in 2015,” according to the latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, sponsored by Babson College and Baruch College. And yeah, it’s all in startups—”fewer people were entering entrepreneurship in 2015.” The report adds.

The Census Bureau agrees, putting new business creation at nearly a 40-year low. “The number of jobs created by establishments less than 1 year old has decreased from 4.1 million in 1994, when this series began, to 3 million in 2015,” the Bureau of Labor Statistics chimes in on a less-than-cheerful note.

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