Couple of years back when the recession of 2008 had not yet hit our economic shores, a friend, who runs a successful content development company, and I were ruing the fact that salaries companies are paying are making it tough for wannabe entrepreneurs to take the plunge. Companies with huge pay packets were making it tougher for people to leave behind the luxury of monthly pay packets, cars, housing, paid vacations, sabbaticals and what not. It was such luxury pitted against the gritty world of raising capital, hiring people, running offices, worrying about meeting government regulations and all the tasks that come with being an entrepreneur.

A google search threw up an interesting data, nevertheless, by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO):

The data above (excerpted from a report of NSSO) is from a survey conducted in 2005-06. It basically says that 42% of urban India preferred self-employment while 55% of the urban population preferred to be self-employed.

My search started off by a comment made by a friend who runs an entertainment company in Bangalore.  He said, "there is a lot of gyan about entrepreneurship everywhere but no action." It reminded me of my 3-year old discussion about the same subject.

Hence the question again: do we prefer jobs to entrepreneurship?