Changes

A report from the Kauffman foundation shows the number of entrepreneurs ages 20-34 as having decreased from 34.3% in 1996 to 24.7% in 2014[http://www.kauffman.org/~/media/kauffman_org/research%20reports%20and%20covers/2015/05/kauffman_index_startup_activity_national_trends_2015.pdf].This translates to an overall decrease of over 40,000 entrepreneurs. Additionally, a gallup poll conducted in October of 2015[http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/186179/student-loan-debt-major-barrier-entrepreneurship.aspx], found that as many as two million students cited loan debt as the principle reason they’d forgone or delayed plans to start a business. After the 2008 financial crisis, firm deaths had significantly exceeded firm births as calculated by the US census bureau. This phenomenon had gradually reversed itself in 2011, but has continued to miss the net average of 120,000 firm births experienced during the late 90's and early 2000's. Researchers speculate that fulfillment of a quarter of the entrepreneurial plans of the two million students’ pursuits would have been enough to return the 120,000 firm birth surplus.The study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania is the first to explore the relationship between student debt and small business growth. Analysis from the models created in the study,claim that an increase in of one standard deviation of in student debt, reduces small business formation for businesses with 1-4 employees by as much as 14%.