I have been involved in several ongoing efforts to measure and create national datasets on entrepreneurship, startups, business ownership and self-employment. The most ambitious project is with the U.S. Census Bureau to capture information on the universe of U.S. startups including both employer and non-employer startups since 1996. I have also worked with the Kauffman Foundation to create indictors of entrepreneurial activity since 2005. Links to information and data are provided here.
Comprehensive Startup Panel (CSP): captures the universe of business startups in the United States including both non-employers and employer startups. All startups since 1996 are included and are followed for seven follow-up years. There are roughly 4.1 million business startup entities per year. The dataset is now available for use at FSRDCs.
Description, WP: Job Creation and Survival among the Universe of U.S. Startups
Indicators of Entrepreneurial Activity (these are two measures of entrepreneurship that used to be reported in the former Kauffman Indicators of Entrepreneurship): measures of the most timely information on new business creation and opportunity entrepreneurship in the United States, all states, and for major demographic groups.
Report for 1996-2023 Microdata (1996 to 2023)
Previous Years for the Kauffman Indicators of Entrepreneurship: Early-Stage Entrepreneurship (through 2021) (formerly the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity)
Reports, Visualizations, and Microdata
Business Ownership using Household Survey Data: tracking self-employed business owners and new business owners (entrepreneurs) in the U.S. economy.
Recent impacts of COVID-19 on trends (Journal of Economics & Management Strategy Article and latest data)
Trends during the Great Recession
Measuring Opportunity and Necessity Entrepreneurship: measure that distinguishes between opportunity and necessity entrepreneurship using previous unemployment status