From The Epoch Times, Katabella Roberts reports on the number of workers who have quit their jobs to become self-employed. Katabella writes:
A historic number of workers have become their own bosses amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (pdf).
As of October, there were about 9.44 million unincorporated self-employed individuals in the United States, as per the bureau’s data. In October 2020, there were about 8.78 million unincorporated self-employed individuals in the country.
The latest figures amount to a rise of 500,000 people since the start of the pandemic and an increase of 6 percent in the number of self-employed, while the overall U.S. employment total remains nearly 3 percent lower than it was before the pandemic.
In October, there were 432,101 business formation applications filed in the United States, according to data from the Census Bureau. In October 2020, there were 414,195 applications filed to register a new business.
A number of reasons could be behind the wave in self-employment rates, including growing fears among employees returning to their place of work amid the ongoing pandemic, the stress of the pandemic, a desire for more job flexibility, government mandates, or a lack of access to child care.
Read the full story at Record Number of Workers Quit Jobs to Become Self-Employed Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
