American Entrepreneurs in 2012

America - Land of the Entrepreneur

America, as we all know, is “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” It’s also the land of the entrepreneur.

This is abundantly clear from recent statistics published by the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity. More than half-a-million new businesses are created in the United States every month—543,000 new businesses, to be exact. This added up to a total of more than 6.5 million new businesses started in the U.S. in 2011.

The U.S. has been widely viewed as the best place in the world to start a new business since we rose to become the world’s dominant economic power in the years following World War II. Despite the major economic downturn of a few years ago and the inconsistent recovery, this perception has only grown in recent years.

In fact, many experts attribute the current boom in entrepreneurship at least in part to the recession and large number of corporate layoffs. Rather than join millions of other unemployed individuals just looking for another job, many have decided to start their own businesses instead.