28% of Marylanders have owned businesses

BALTIMORE, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- More than one quarter of all residents of Maryland have owned or operated a small business, a survey indicates.

The survey by OpinionWorks for the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development in partnership with the Greater Baltimore Technology Council found 28 percent of Marylanders have been business for themselves and 37 percent of all business owners have started more than one enterprise. One in 10 business owners are serial entrepreneurs.

Thirty-three percent of all owners started their business since the economic downturn began in 2008. These newest business owners are likely to be under age 35, and much more likely than the general population to be African-American, the survey says.

Forty-nine percent of all owners started their business because of circumstances they did not anticipate; but 44 percent indicated they always knew they would be a business owner, the survey says.

Specialty trade contractors and construction businesses accounted for one-fifth of new businesses, followed by professional, scientific, technical and IT services at 16 percent, the survey indicates.

Business owners are more likely to be men -- 61 percent -- but mirror the general population almost exactly in terms of race and ethnicity, the survey said.

The survey of 1,001 U.S. adults was conducted the week of Oct. 18-24 and has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.