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Journalism of Courage
In Shanghai, China’s largest city, there is one private business owner out of every 30 people of employable age, a recent survey of the local working population has revealed.
The survey, conducted by the Shanghai Municipal Labour and Social Security department, shows 3.1 per cent of the 25,000 citizens surveyed are operating their private business entities and hold stakes.
An additional 1.8 per cent of the respondents said they are making concrete preparations for a private business, bringing the actual proportion of private entrepreneurs in the city to 4.9 per cent.
The percentage is higher than the 3.3 per cent reported in Hong Kong and 4.3 percent in Taiwan, but lags behind the southern booming city Shenzhen, where 10.5 per cent are private business owners, said Sheng Zuhuan, an official of the Department of Labour and Social Security in Shanghai.
The survey also found that an impressive 13.1 per cent of the population of Shanghai plans to start up its own businesses in the coming year. The proportion is nearly 23 per cent among the unemployed respondents.
Men are more enthusiastic than women in starting up a business and those between 35 and 44 years old are keenest entrepreneurs, said Sheng.
The respondents, aged between 16 and 64, were randomly picked by the Labour and Social Security department to fill up a questionnaire.
Since 1996, Shanghai has been encouraging its unemployed population to start private business with tax exemption policies and other such measures.
