There are many theories out there about how our economic situation has affected and will continue to affect entrepreneurship. On the one hand, consumers aren’t spending as much, lenders aren’t funding as much and overall it’s becoming much riskier and more difficult to start your own business, which leads many to believe that entrepreneurship will suffer. On the other hand, millions of people have lost their jobs recently and are having a tough time finding work, which leads others to believe that the newly unemployed will turn to entrepreneurship and cause it to flourish. So who’s correct? What’s really happening with entrepreneurship these days?

Though the answer to that question is unknown, a recent post on Small Business Trends might help shed some light on the subject. In his article, Scott Shane explains that although entrepreneurship levels did take a statistical dive during the second half of last year, things appear to have improved over the past few months.

According to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the self-employment rate dropped by 0.4 percent between July and September, which is a substantial decrease. Since October, however, the situation seems to have improved.

“The non-agricultural self-employment rate stayed the same in November, improved in December, and declined only slightly in January.”

There’s no way of knowing for certain what these statistical dips and dives can be attributed to. Perhaps it’s some combination of the scenarios mentioned earlier. The point to take away from this, however, is that entrepreneurship is showing signs of vitality. It may not be at the level it was earlier last year, but it’s bouncing back.

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