According to research developed by the National Commission on Entrepreneurship:

Entrepreneurs create new businesses and high-paying jobs at an exceptional rate.

• While fast-growth companies account for only six percent of the six million U.S. employers, they were responsible for two-thirds of new jobs created between 1993 and 1996.



• Since 1980 the U.S. has added 34 million jobs, despite the fact that Fortune 500 companies lost more than 5 million.



• Fast-growing companies create a large demand for goods and services - both to fill their business needs and those of their employees and their families.

Entrepreneurs bring forth the large majority of innovative products and services that improve our quality of life.

• Entrepreneurs have been responsible for 67 percent of the inventions and 95 percent of the radical innovations made since World War II. They have created the new products, new companies and new industries that led in large part to our most recent period of economic growth.

Entrepreneurial companies grow into economic powerhouses.

• Of the 1997 Fortune 200 companies, 197 of them were traced back to one or more entrepreneurial founders. The largest ten such corporations accounted for 1.3 million jobs and well over $400 billion in revenues in 1997.

Entrepreneurs improve our position in global economic competition.

• The vitality and dynamism of the entrepreneurial sector pushes companies into dominant positions in many industries that will grow in significance in the next century - genomics, telecommunications, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, internet, software and environmental technologies.

Entrepreneurs create economic growth and new wealth through a "virtuous cycle."

• Entrepreneurs attract - and spend - large amounts of capital.



• Entrepreneurs use the new wealth that is created to reinvest in other entrepreneurs.



• Entrepreneurs share wealth with their employees through stock options or employee stock purchase plans.



• Entrepreneurs fuel philanthropy in their communities.



• Entrepreneurs increase the tax base through business growth, increased employment and wage growth.