PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island had the lowest score on the latest Kauffman Early-Stage Entrepreneur Index for 2017, part of the Kauffman Indicators of Entrepreneurship report released by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in February.
Rhode Island earned an index score of -2.93, the lowest of any state in the country. California scored highest with a index score of 2.86 (California was the only state with a score greater than 2, while Rhode Island was the only state with a score less than -2).
The new index, which replaced the discontinued Kauffman Index, measures a state’s rate of new entrepreneurs, the opportunity share of new entrepreneurs, startup early job creation and startup early survival rate. The report used data from 2017.
New England KESE index values:
- Maine: 1.63
- Massachusetts: 0.89
- Vermont: 0.17
- Connecticut: -0.94
- New Hampshire: -1.4
- Rhode Island: -2.93
Rhode Island was reported to have the lowest percent of entrepreneurs driven by opportunity in the United States at 68.72 percent.
Rhode Island was reported to have 0.18 percent of adults becoming entrepreneurs in a given month, on average, the highest rate was in Wyoming at 0.47 percent. The lowest was in Delaware at 0.16 percent. The U.S. rate was 0.33 percent in 2017.
Rate of new entrepreneurs in New England:
- Vermont: 0.38 percent
- Maine:0.33 percent
- Massachusetts: 0.26 percent
- New Hampshire: 0.24 percent
- Connecticut: 0.23 percent
- Rhode Island: 0.18 percent
The startup early survival rate, the percent of firms surviving one year after founding, in the Ocean State was 77.41 percent. The highest rate was 88.13 percent in Maine, while the lowest rate was in Georgia at 73.48 percent. The U.S. rate was 79.8 percent.
New England early survival rates:
- Maine: 88.1 percent
- Massachusetts: 82.7 percent
- Connecticut: 79.7 percent
- Vermont: 78.8 percent
- Rhode Island: 77.4 percent
- New Hampshire: 77.3 percent
The number of jobs created by startups per 1,000 people was 4 in Rhode Island. The lowest rate was in West Virginia at 2.95 jobs per 1,000, while the highest was in the District of Columbia at 10.34 percent. The national rate was 5.27 jobs per 1,000 in 2017.
Startup Early Job Creation in New England:
- Massachusetts: 6.1 jobs
- Maine 4.7 jobs
- Rhode Island: 4 jobs
- Connecticut: 3.9 jobs
- Vermont: 3.8 jobs
- New Hampshire: 3.4 jobs
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor. Email him at Bergenheim@PBN.com.
