From the reports I've seen, the number of self-employed people are at historically low levels, so this traditional way of making it on your own has become more difficult for various reasons.
Forbes disagrees...
Ah, how the meaning of words change over time. By "self-employed," I meant starting your own small business.
The Forbes article is talking about the "1099 economy" where many formerly full-time employee positions are replaced with independent contractors. Some professions have always worked this way, but many company offices are full of these independent contractors although you'd never know that they weren't regular employees. They go to one job every day, have a boss, and do everything a regular employee does. As an independent contractor, however, you're even more vulnerable to being fired than a regular employee, don't get benefits or the same pay raises, and you still depend on the whims of your "employer" for having a "job."
That same article does agree that small businesses are having a tough time.
While the economy has been miserable for small business, and many larger ones as well, the ranks of the self-employed have been growing.
Just did a quick Google search and
this was one of the first articles to come up:
...the startup numbers are truly striking: In 1987, 13 percent of all American firms were new launches. By 2010, for the first time on record, the startup rate had fallen to an all-time low of less than 8 percent, according to data released Wednesday by the Census Bureau and the Kauffman Foundation. In the early 80s, almost 50 percent of firms were five years old or younger. In 2010, that number had fallen to 35.
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