Consideration of start-ups in the liberal professions
Start-up statistics by the IfM Bonn are one of the most important sources of data on start-ups in Germany in terms of reliability and coverage. Since they are based on business registration statistics, they do not include start-ups in the liberal professions and other areas that are not subject to the business registration regulations. Therefore, the aim of an IfM Bonn research project was to develop a procedure where the number of start-ups in the liberal professions could be determined as accurately as possible. In the first step, existing data sources were examined for their suitability. In a second step, data from tax authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia was analyzed as part of a pilot study to determine the number of freelance start-ups. In a third step, with the support of the ministries of economics and finance of the federal government and the federal states, IfM Bonn could present figures on start-ups in the liberal professions for Germany (excluding Saxony) for the first time at the beginning of 2012. During the course of 2012, the IfM Bonn also received data for all federal states for the first time and updated its figures.
Before a new foundational statistic covering all areas of start-ups can be compiled, further research of the financial administration data is necessary with regard to validity and evaluation checks.
Every fifth start-up in Germany originates in the liberal professions
According to calculations by the IfM Bonn, more than one in five start-ups (21.2%) in Germany in 2010 were founded in the liberal professions. The share of freelance start-ups has remained stable in recent years (2009: 21.6%, 2008: 22.6%). This results in 150,000 start-ups annually. A similar order of magnitude is expected for 2011. The figures also include side job start-ups, but not marginal activities. For every 10,000 working-age inhabitants, about 30 freelancers set up a business each year from 2008 to 2010.
City-states of Hamburg and Berlin lead in freelance start-ups
The states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria stand out with high absolute start-up figures for the liberal professions, followed by the city-state of Berlin. In relative terms, the city-states of Hamburg and Berlin achieve the highest shares of freelance start-ups among all new entrants, at around 40%, followed by North Rhine-Westphalia (just under 30%). Berlin and Hamburg also rank nationwide in terms of start-up intensity, with around 70 freelance entrepreneurs per 10,000 employable inhabitants.
