Fast Company / Dec. 20, 2022
Millions of Americans dream of owning their own businesses and, in recent years, more and more have brought that dream to fruition. During 2021 alone, roughly 5.4 million new companies were registered in the United States, an increase of 23% over the previous year. While the pandemic has clearly been a significant catalyst for much of this entrepreneurship, new research suggests that education is playing a big role, too.
Additional years of education lead to higher rates of entrepreneurship and self-employment, according to a new study from Iowa State University economics professor John Winters and graduate student Kunwon Ahn. The study, which was published in Small Business Economics, shows that “an additional year of schooling increases self-employment in high-growth industries by 1.12 percentage points for women and by 0.88 percentage points for men.” To sum it up, “the results suggest that formal education enhances entrepreneurship,” the paper says.