> Maybe, we should rather assume wanting to start a company is the normal case and ask what keeps most people from wanting to start their own business.
I know this was definitely the case in the 70s. My father's and grandfather's generations mostly started their own businesses rather than work for somebody else.
Self-employment has fallen over the years, to be sure, but it wasn't the norm two generations ago; by BLS figures, in 1948, it was 18.5% of all workers whose primary work was self-employment; as of 2009, it was around 10.9%.
Today's education mostly pushes you toward becoming an employee. It's schools like stanford that teaching you to become an entrepreneur not the norm.
I'm guessing that back in 1948 there were less jobs to begin with, and businesses tended to be much smaller. Also, probably starting a company was much easier - not financially, but probably beurocratically.
Comments
Self-employment has fallen over the years, to be sure, but it wasn't the norm two generations ago; by BLS figures, in 1948, it was 18.5% of all workers whose primary work was self-employment; as of 2009, it was around 10.9%.
Today's education mostly pushes you toward becoming an employee. It's schools like stanford that teaching you to become an entrepreneur not the norm. I'm guessing that back in 1948 there were less jobs to begin with, and businesses tended to be much smaller. Also, probably starting a company was much easier - not financially, but probably beurocratically.