Census Bureau: U.S. startup activity still below pre-recession levels

The nation’s 414,000 startup companies created 2.5 million new jobs in 2015, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Business Dynamics Statistics.

In contrast, an average of about 524,000 startup companies created an average of 3.3 million jobs per year between 2002 and 2006, before the Great Recession of 2008.

Net job creation nationwide totaled 3.1 million in 2015, with 16.8 million job creation and 13.7 million job destruction.

Arkansas had net job creation between 0% and 1.6% that year.

States with the highest net job creation rates in 2015, 3.4% and above, were in the South Atlantic, Pacific and Mountain regions of the country.

Nationwide, young firms, those fewer than six years old, accounted for 11% of employment and 27% of job creation, according to the data. Old firms, those more than 25 years old, comprised 62% of employment and 48% of job creation.

The job creation rate for young firms, excluding startups, was 20% in 2015, bouncing back to pre-recession levels like those during the period between 2002 and 2006 and rising above the Great Recession low of 15% in 2009, according to the bureau.

The net job creation rate for establishments in metro areas throughout the U.S. was 2.7%. For establishments in non-metro areas, the rate was 1.2%.