Monitor reveals rise in number of people setting up businesses

There has been an increase in the number of people setting up their own business, although a third of them feel they have no other option.

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor published today shows that 2,200 people started a new business each month in 2011, up half a per cent from the previous year.

Almost three-quarters of those set up on their own plan to become employers.

However, men are two and a half times more likely to become entrepreneurs than women.

National GEM Coordinator Paula Fitzsimons says the growth in the numbers of businesses actually getting off the ground is a significant boost to the economy.