A new report by the SBA Office of Advocacy shows that rural
America’s rate of entrepreneurship has fallen in recent decades. The report, “The
Retreat of the Rural Entrepreneur,” tracks self-employment data from the
U.S Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey. According to the author, Daniel
Wilmoth, “In 1988, more than 1 in 4 self-employed workers lived in a rural
area, but, by 2016, that had fallen to less than 1 in 6.”
The report is available on the
Office of Advocacy website. It is part of a series examining trends in U.S.
entrepreneurship. Other reports in the series have examined
entrepreneurship among millennials, seniors, and immigrants.
The challenges facing rural America are the focus of a
recent Executive Order, Promoting
Agriculture and Rural Prosperity in America. The E.O. was issued in April
and established a task force
led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Small Business Administration is
one of 22 participating federal agencies.
For more information, read
Advocacy’s press release.
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