VIVES Briefings, 2019, 6: The Start-Up Gap and Jobs

Recent evidence from major OECD economies, including Belgium, suggests that business dynamism (the rate of entrepreneurship) is
declining. Part of this decline is driven by the declining number of start-ups. In this column we explore the impact of this decline in start-up
rates on the aggregate employment growth of Belgium during the last decade. While there may be an increase in the number of start-ups in general, the number of start-ups with employment has been declining over the last couple of …

Recent evidence from major OECD economies, including Belgium, suggests that business dynamism (the rate of entrepreneurship) is
declining. Part of this decline is driven by the declining number of start-ups. In this column we explore the impact of this decline in start-up
rates on the aggregate employment growth of Belgium during the last decade. While there may be an increase in the number of start-ups in general, the number of start-ups with employment has been declining over the last couple of decades. Our results suggest that this decline has a significant and growing effect of slowing down the aggregate employment growth. We estimate a loss of 70,000 jobs due to a start-up gap that emerged since 2008