Contact:
Kelly Rohrs, 212-819-4852, kelly.rohrs@edelman.com, Edelman
Barbara Pruitt, 816-932-1288, bpruitt@kauffman.com, Kauffman Foundation
Kauffman Foundation president lays out five strategies to boost entrepreneurship and create jobs
(KANSAS CITY, Mo.), Dec. 2, 2009 – Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, has been invited by President Barack Obama to participate in the White House forum on jobs and economic growth on Thursday, December 3.
An economist, author and former entrepreneur, Schramm is one of the country's leading experts on entrepreneurship and the conditions necessary to drive economic recovery. He will join about 130 business leaders, economists and CEOs from across the United States to identify ways the government can stimulate job growth.
"With unemployment at 10.2 percent, Washington needs to create an environment where entrepreneurs and new companies can thrive and create the jobs that our country desperately needs. Young firms drive economic growth and will be the solution to economic recovery," Schramm said.
According to studies from the Kauffman Foundation, companies less than five years old have created all net new jobs in the United States since 1980. In 1997, young firms accounted for two-thirds of job creation. A recent Kauffman Foundation study, however, shows that, in 2008 and most of 2009, firm foundation declined.
Schramm recommends five strategies to boost entrepreneurship and job growth:
- Create a "Founders Visa" for immigrants who found new companies in the United States to keep their businesses—and the jobs they create—here.
- Offer a payroll tax holiday so that young companies can afford to hire and expand.
- Provide clarity about taxes and future regulations to avoid unintended and harmful consequences to entrepreneurs.
- Create entrepreneur fellowships for recently graduated Ph.D.s, giving them an opportunity to commercialize their research.
- Offer Sarbanes-Oxley exemptions to certain young companies so they can offer IPOs more quickly.
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| The chart, above, demonstrates that in most years, without new and young companies, net job creation for the overall economy would be negative. |
