A few months ago in this space, we pointed you to a speech by Robert Litan of the Kaufmann Foundation on the importance of start ups in job creation. The remarkable conclusion was this:
Since 1980 until the recession, all net new jobs—net meaning gross jobs minus layoffs — have been created by firms under five years old.
Not to be outdone by the Lawrence Economics Blog, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman trots out the same data in his column this past Saturday. Friedman argues that the U.S. needs to foster innovation, promote start ups, and relax its, um, restrictive immigration policies.