The COVID-19 crisis and the emergency measures
taken to stop its spread have wreaked havoc on
entrepreneurs and small business owners across the
state: Shops have closed, capital investments for new
startups have slowed and markets have shifted.
And yet, startups1 are vital to our economy. New
and young firms are the primary source of job
creation in the U.S. economy in both urban and
rural communities, according to the Ewing Marion
Kauffman Foundation. 
• First-time employers who employed fewer
than 20 employees created 36,686 new jobs
in Missouri in 2020. These firms created an
average of 37,270 new jobs in Missouri each year
for the past five years.
• Considering the employees hired by these same
firms in 2016 and in each succeeding year and
accounting for job losses as well, first-time
employers created 169,479 jobs from 2016
to 2020. Consistent with nationally reported
trends, this accounted for 79.7% of all new jobs
and 6.7% of the total employment3 in Missouri
each year.
• In Missouri, new firms in the tech sector created
an average of 863 jobs each year for the past
five years.
• Using the hiring of first employee as a proxy for
startup, the QCEW data reveals that Missouri
had 16,287 startup firms in 2020.
• Wages these startup firms paid start below the
average for all Missouri jobs, but wages exceed
the average after Year 4.
THE FULL REPORT