Report Confirms Start-Ups are Florida’s Top Job Creators
- BY FGA
Start-Up Companies Created More Than 1 Million Jobs from 2005-2009
NAPLES – Start-up companies in Florida created nearly 1.5 million jobs between 2005 and 2009, indicating that newly-launched companies are the drivers of job creation in the state, according to a new report released today by the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA).
The report, Job Growth Overview: Start-Up Companies are Florida’s Top Job Creators, was authored by FGA economist Dr. Joseph Burke, and is the first report of the think tank’s Start-Up Florida initiative, a wide-ranging effort to research and raise awareness of the policies that impact start-up entrepreneurs, and advocate meaningful reforms to promote job creation in the state.
“Start-up companies are Florida’s top job creators. Our policies must help start-up entrepreneurs open their doors sooner, hire their first employees quicker and get Floridians back to work,” said FGA Chief Executive Officer Tarren Bragdon of the Start-Up Florida initiative.
Since 2005, start-ups created a net total of 788,256 jobs in Florida (job creation minus job destruction). In that same time, net total job creation from all types of establishments—start-ups, existing firms and firms that relocated to the state—was 159,836. Had it not been for start-ups, Florida would have experienced significant negative job growth since 2005 instead of modest job gains.
Other key findings from the report:
- 1.475 million – total jobs created by Florida start-ups established between 2005 and 2009
- 217,558 – average number of new jobs created by Florida start-ups annually
- 788,256 – number of net jobs created by Florida start-ups since 2005
- 159,836 – number of net jobs created in Florida by all types of establishments since 2005
- 44,295 – average number of start-ups established each year (2005-2009)
The recession has had a significant impact on the launching of Florida start-ups. Since the recession began in 2007, the average number of start-up companies created annually is down 23.5 percent.
“Promoting start-ups is the key to Florida’s economic recovery. Reducing the time and cost it takes entrepreneurs to launch start-ups will encourage job creation and help put more Floridians back to work,” Burke writes.
Future Start-Up Florida reports will delve into specific policies at the state and local level that impact start-ups, and a more in-depth look at how policies impact specific industries within the state.
“The conventional wisdom that small businesses are the key to job creation is incomplete,” Bragdon said. “To create jobs and help get people back to work requires a complete picture of what’s working, and that picture must include start-ups. Start-ups are Florida’s top job creators. They are the crucial to lifting Florida from this recession.”
CLICK HERE to read the report.
