It’s an exciting time in America for female entrepreneurs, and according to a study released this week by the Center for Urban Future, this is especially true for female entrepreneurs in New York City. In this study, titled “Breaking Through: The Economic Impact of Women Entrepreneurs,” researchers collected and analyzed data about female entrepreneurship in NYC between 2002 and 2012 (the most recent year for which data was available), and the results of their research were nothing short of astounding.
In NYC, women are starting businesses in greater numbers than men.
Over the course of that ten-year period, the number of female-owned businesses in New York City increased by a full 65%. This dramatic spike can be seen across all industries, including sectors that have traditionally been the purview of men, like construction, real estate and transportation. And according to the CUF study, one particular field in which women in NewYork City have made tremendous strides is in the tech industry, where women are now “starting a greater share of the tech companies in New York City than [they are] in Silicon Valley or Boston. Interestingly, a full two-thirds of this rapid explosion of growth occurred over the span of only five years, between 2007 and 2012, which means that we can expect to see many more women entering the entrepreneurial sphere in years to come. Researchers believe that these dramatic results can be directly attributed to a number of different factors, including a lower barrier to entry for business, the recession, and advances in technology and the internet that have increased the ease with which one can start a business.
Curiously, though, it seems that while women have no problem starting their own companies, they do have trouble ascending to the next level of growth once the foundation of their businesses have been built. This is clear from statistics that show that 91% of female-owned companies in New York City do not yet have paid employees. So, then, while New York City may currently have the highest number of women-owned businesses of any American city, the full potential of these companies has only just begun to be realized.