Belmont University

Behind the Self-Employment Statistics

Currently in the US we have almost 20 million people in the US who are classified as "self-employed." In the past, we thought of these folks holding jobs such as house painters or consultants (a.k.a. "people between real jobs'). As I have written before, this is no longer the case.

An article from yesterday's USA Today is a great example of the changing nature of self-employment in our emerging entrepreneurial economy.

Fed up with rising labor costs, a new generation of entrepreneurs is launching millions of tiny companies differing from business in the past: They don't want employees.

The trend, building since the late 1990s, hit a milestone this year when the number of these microbusinesses reached 20 million -- one for every six private-sector workers, a new analysis of government data shows.

In place of paid employees, owners harness new technologies to outsource work, often linking up with other like-minded entrepreneurs to get jobs done in a virtual assembly line spanning the globe.

And as I wrote in an earlier post today, those small business owners who do have employees, are planning to add even more.

(Thanks to Ben Cunningham for passing this along).


Posted by Jeff Cornwall on December 12, 2006 07:39 AM |

Comments

Jeff,

Where do you think the entrepreneurial generation will be in 10 years?

The ent. generation is young, single and mobile. I wonder how they will change once they start maturing, get married and start families.

Do you think they are aware of the opportunity cost of not receiving a corporate income and benefits while building their business?

This is only a guess but I think only a small percentage of them will hit the entrepreneurial lottery. The rest will make ends meet trough their business. As they get older I believe they will start moving into more stable jobs and careers.

Birdied by: Richard | December 13, 2006 09:07 AM

Hitting the "entrepreneurial lottery" is not the point, nor is it their goal.

I hope that in ten years we will look back and say, "Wow! This generation started a revolution, too. But, unlike the social, counter-cultural revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, this one was an economic and cultural revolution that moved the world in a positive direction."

Birdied by: Jeff | December 13, 2006 05:01 PM

What are some positive statistics on entrepreneurship such as income, new things brought to the world, and how often does someone start an entrepreneurship because of seeing someone else start one?

Birdied by: Justin Horton | November 27, 2007 02:51 PM

Tap it in and Comment, Please

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