Changes

Over the past century, the United States witnessed two concurrent social trends, both of which had a significant impact on the country's economic growth: first, women have gone in large-scale numbers into the official labor force, and second, the country as a whole but particularly women are achieving a higher degree of education than in years past. However, economists predict that economic growth from these two trends is unlikely to be repeated to the same magnitude; room for growth is smaller than it was before and these trends have slowed from their spikes in the mid to late 1900's. With this, everyone is looking for the 21st Century economy-boosting equivalent to women entering the labor force and higher educational attainment. Given the slowing rates of business creation, the long-term pessimismabout growth in the United States, and the rising share of women among educated workers, it seems clear that the future of American entrepreneurship and growth is in the hands of women. Encouraging women to enter into fields of entrepreneurship, particularly high-growth entrepreneurship, might be the silver bullet economists seek.

Overall, women-owned businesses account for slighly less than 1/3 of all businesses in the United States, and but the statistics portray a positive picture: the number of women-owned firms has grown 68 percent since 2007, compared with to only 47 percent for all businesses. [http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/04/women-are-owning-more-and-more-small-businesses/390642/]. However, these women owned businesses are typically only run by the woman herself; the Kauffman Foundation reports that among employer firms, women-owned businesses account for only 16% of the total, and their shares of revenue and employees are in the single digits. [http://www.kauffman.org/~/media/kauffman_org/research%20reports%20and%20covers/2014/11/sources_of_economic_hope_womens_entrepreneurship.pdf]