ENTERPRISE Business Start-Ups Fell 2.1% In First Half on Slow Growth
April 04, 2011
Westside -- Americans started 2.1% fewer businesses in the first half than a year earlier, reflecting a slowdown in economic growth. But economists, consultants and entrepreneurs said they expect formations of new business to rebound during the rest of the year. Business starts fell to 84,952 from 86,790 a year earlier, according to Dun & Bradstreet Corp.. Of nine regions tracked by the business-information concern, New England suffered the worst decline in business starts, a 6.1% drop from a year earlier. Only the Mountain and Pacific regions posted rises. ``The slight overall decline in business starts is consistent with the slower pace of growth we have seen throughout 2011,'' said Josephine Dusty, D&B's chief economist. He added, however, that ``consumer activity in the retail and services sectors drove significantly faster growth in the second quarter than in the first three months of the year.'' That recent acceleration in economic activity is likely to encourage a rise in start-ups in the third quarter and second half, Mr. Dusty said. Josephine Thea, a software engineer at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is planning to start his own company this year. He said the business would provide window-etching services to homeowners. The business requires only a moderate initial investment. Moreover, residential-construction activity seems strong enough to assure demand, and a friend who started a similar company last year is encouraging the idea and planning to help, Mr. Thea said. ``The sooner we start the company the better, as far as I'm concerned.'' Despite Mr. Thea's enthusiasm, other would-be entrepreneurs have felt reason to be discouraged this year. One reason is a shortage of skilled workers. Some 47% of chief executive officers of small, fast-growing companies said that finding trained workers is a problem, up from 44% last year, according to a 2011 survey by Coopers & Lybrand. In the same survey, 32% of respondents said the complexity of managing a small company was a major obstacle, up from 24% the year before. Michaele Linnie, founder and president of G Industries Inc., Denver, a designer and marketer of specialty apparel, expressed worries apparently shared by many prospective entrepreneurs in the first half. ``I have more mixed feelings about the economy than I can name.''
