In a July 2, 2009 article on Forbes.com, Ashlea Ebeling reported that as unemployment continues to rise, more Baby Boomers are moving to self-employment. Unemployment rates in June continued to climb for those aged 55 and older–to 7.7% for men and 6.4% for women, up from 3.1% and 3%, respectively, in December 2007.
The article states:
Fortunately (for those in this age group and for the economy), older workers have recently demonstrated they have a plan B: Work for themselves.
Over the past decade, the highest rate of new-business creation has been posted by the 55 to 64 age group, Dane Stangler, senior analyst at the Kauffman Foundation, a Kansas City, Mo., charity devoted to entrepreneurship, notes in a new report, “The Coming Entrepreneurship Boom.” Using data from the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, the study finds that from 1996 to 2007, Americans aged 55 to 64 averaged a rate of entrepreneurial activity roughly one-third higher than those aged 20 to 34.. .
. . . The image of the 20-something entrepreneur obscures the trends that have persisted for a decade,” Stangler says.
. . . The older-entrepreneur phenomenon predates the current recession. For example, a Kauffman survey of 5,000 firms started in 2004 showed that 18% of the founders were 55 or older.
The migration of older workers to self-employment helps explain a seeming anomaly in the job numbers. Even as their unemployment rate grows, so too does the total employment of those 55 and older.
It turns out that it is not just the workers who have been laid off that are heading toward entrepreneurial ventures; this movement includes those who are coming out of retirement as well. Chances appear to be slim that many of these people will return to corporate jobs.
This may be the start of a new entrepreneurial era in the workplace.