编者按：在各科技巨头的强领头作用下，越来越多心怀梦想的年轻人怀着创业的理想进入市场。对成功案例的宣传，创业精神的标榜，让我们自以为处在一个创业的黄金时代，但事实真的是这样吗？这篇原题为 Is This The Golden Age Of Entrepreneurialism? The Statistics Say No 的文章向我们列举了一些统计数据，并且指出，虽然创业在大众文化中流行，但现今经济的活力已经大不如前，资源更多地集中在历史悠久的业内大公司，留给创业公司的发展空间被挤压了。虽然这篇文章说的是美国的情况，但美国是当前科技行业的领军者，一定程度上对全球经济有着指导意义，因此值得我们认真阅读和思考。

Given the prominence of Uber, Facebook, and other tech super-brands in our lives, the current moment may seem like a golden age for startups. These companies’ success in rising from nothing would seem to indicate that we’re living in an economy that embraces change and continues to innovate.

鉴于Uber、Facebook和其他科技超级品牌在我们生活中的突出地位，atv，对创业公司来说，似乎正处于一个黄金时代。这些公司从无到有的成功，似乎表明我们生活在一个拥抱变革，不断创新的经济体系中。

Right? Well, look at the statistics and the prospects for entrepreneurialism seem less healthy. America is producing fewer startups now than previous eras. Fewer jobs are being created by new businesses. And what new companies do exist are hopelessly concentrated among certain industries and geographies. Metros like Los Angeles and New York dominate the scene; most other cities are largely stagnant.

真是这样吗？然而看看统计数据，创业的前景看起来似乎没有想象中那样好。美国现在的新创公司跟从前比要少，提供的工作岗位也更少。而且这些新创公司集中在某些行业和地区之间。像洛杉矶和纽约这样的大城市处在主宰地位，其他城市则大都停滞不前。

In 2014, the economy hatched 154,000 fewer new companies than in 2006, despite the economy being almost 10% larger. [Illustration: wacomka/iStock]

2014年，尽管美国经济增长了近10％，孵化的新公司相比2006年却减少了154,000家。

The lack of new business groups is a big reason for a lack of new job growth, a new reportshows. In 2014, the economy hatched 154,000 fewer new companies than in 2006, despite the economy being almost 10% larger. If you assume, based on history, that each new business creates six new positions in its first year, that means 3.4 million fewer jobs in the 2006-2014 period than we might have expected.

新的报告显示，缺乏新创公司导致了疲软的就业增长。根据历史情况假设，每个新创公司在头一年能创造六个新职位，这意味着2006-2014年期间的就业人数比预期的减少了340万。

“In the popular consciousness, startups have never been more celebrated or focused on,” says John Lettieri, co-founder of the Economic Innovation Group (EIG), a centrist think tank supported by several Silicon Valley Illuminati, in an interview. “We’ve never had a more entrepreneur-friendly popular culture. Tech companies have brought startups to the forefront. It’s just that overall, across the American economy as a whole, there’s a lot less dynamism than we’ve seen.”

“在流行认知中，创业公司从未如此受到重视。”经济创新集团（EIG）的联合创始人John Lettieri在接受采访时表示：“我们的大众文化从来没有比现在更适合企业家的发展。 科技公司把创业公司带到了人们的视线中。只是就美国经济总体来说，活力比我们所看到的要少得多。”

With the depressing title of Dynamism in Retreat, EIG’s report shows that fewer people are moving across state lines for work, that new companies account for a lower percentage of job hires than traditionally, and that job turnover rates are declining (from a high of 12.4% annually in 1999 to a low of 7.2% in 2015). These are all indications of decreasing “churn”–the process that has driven the economy in the past. Since the recession, firm closures have outpaced firm births, on average. In 2014, more than 200 metro areas had higher death than birth rates for companies.

EIG的一篇题为“消退的活力”（Dynamism in Retreat）的报告显示，跨州就业的人数变少了，新公司的就业比例低于传统水平，人员流动率下降（从1999年12.4%降至2015年的7.2％）。 这些都是经济周转下降的迹象，而周转正是驱动经济发展的动力。自经济衰退以来，初创公司的消亡的速度已经超过了出生。2014年，二百多个都会区的初创公司消亡率高于出生率。

“The recession led to this huge wiping out of one-industry towns, particularly in those places that were heavily dependent on the industrial or manufacturing economy,” says EIG cofounder Steve Glickman. “We’re asking: What’s around the corner for them? And we’re seeing a shockingly low rate of new businesses that can become the new employers for those regions of the country.”