Written by: Johan M. Kuhn, Nikolaj Malchow-Møller and Anders Sørensen

In this paper, we extend existing analyses of job creation by both newly-formed and longer-established firms by including the educational element of the jobs that are created or destroyed. We define education-specific measurements for job creation and destruction at the company level, and then use this definition to construct measurements for ‘real’ new jobs, defined as jobs created that do not simply resemble similar jobs that have been abolished in existing firms in the same region and sector. Using data from Statistics Denmark for the period 2002-2007 that identifies entrepreneurs, and which covers almost the whole of the private sector, we present a more nuanced evaluation of the role of entrepreneurs in job creation than has been provided by previous studies.