Go Big or Go Home, by the numbers
In a world with more government regulation and government consuming a larger percentage of GDP, you’d think that it become increasingly sensible for an individual to work for the government or a big company that can lobby the government. Starting your own company would go from dumb to dumber. Inc. magazine gives us some numbers:
49.7 percent of World War II vets went on to own or operate a business, according to Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families. Some 40 percent of Korean War veterans did the same–creating millions of jobs along the way. … only 4.5 percent of the more than 3.6 million people who have served in the U.S. military since September 11, 2001, have launched a company, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The government sorting potential contractors by race and sex may distort the statistics:
Government contracting preferences have recently made it more attractive for a company to be woman-owned, so some of the numbers may reflect paperwork changes (such as dropping a husband from a co-owner title) rather than broad-based demographic shifts.
But it is tough to see how this can explain a drop from 50 percent down to less than 5 percent.
Related:
- Bloomberg article showing shift since 1988 of workers from small enterprises to larger ones