America Has Become an Entrepreneur’s Paradise

The Economist: “Americans have long loved the idea of being their own boss… For at least two decades around 60% of them have said they would prefer to start their own business than to toil for someone else, according to Gallup, a pollster. Yet until recently fewer and fewer were living out that dream. As large firms lured workers with the promise of stability, the share of self-employed Americans fell from 36% in 1910 to less than 10% in 2020.”

“That is now changing. Full-time self-employment rose to its highest level this century in 2025, reaching 16.8m… Business formation first surged during Covid-19, as laid-off Americans turned to self-employment. In July 2020 new-business applications hit 547,000, the highest on record.”