Jobs, Jobs, Jobs: Why Startup Companies Matter

Spectacular Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) strike a media fireball of attention on start-ups — defined here as companies that hire and have been around up to six years. But start-ups should be getting more attention for their contributions to employment. After all between 1977 and 2009 start-ups contributed nearly all the roughly two million to three million new jobs created every year. Big companies contributed no net new jobs.