Opinion: Rural entrepreneurship in Nev. near extinct
By Dusty Wunderlich, Reno Gazette-Journal
This month’s low job report sent shock waves. While pundits pontificate on stalled job growth despite relatively low unemployment and the impact both might have on capital markets, they may be overlooking a much bigger issue crippling the U.S. economy.
Entrepreneurism is on the sharpest decline in the U.S. in recent history and Nevada ranks as the state with the lowest percentage of business owners per capita. As fewer businesses enter the marketplace, large corporations naturally take a greater share of the market, contributing to greater wealth and power concentration.
The percentage of business owners has steadily declined since 1996, according to the2015 Kauffman Index on Main Street Entrepreneurship. Considering small business accounts for 63 percent of U.S. employers, economists know jobs are just part of the picture.