International
FILE – Lacey Larrick poses outside the Still Meadow Boutique, Dec. 17, 2021, in Winchester, Va.
Jeff Taylor/The Winchester Star via AP, File
Business boom: Record numbers of people are starting up new small businesses
Published 1:02 PDT, Tue April 16, 2024
—
NEW YORK (AP) — Record numbers of people are starting new businesses, and more and more of them are women and minorities, according to a new study.
New business applications jumped in 2020 as the pandemic started, and have continued to be filed at a record pace. More than 5 million applications were filed in 2021 and 2022 and a record 5.5 million new business applications were filed in 2023.
Payroll firm Gusto surveyed 1,300 owners who started their small business last year to discover their characteristics.
Women made up 49 per cent of the new business owners surveyed. That's in line with the past several years, but up starkly from 2019, when just 29 per cent of new business owners were women.
Still, women do not receive as much interest from investors as men. In 2023, just 3 per cent of women entrepreneurs received a private capital investment to start their business, compared to 9 per cent of male entrepreneurs.
Black entrepreneurs made up 6 per cent of new business owners in 2023, double the 3 per cent rate seen before the pandemic. Hispanic entrepreneurs made up 13 per cent of new owners, compared to 8 per cent last year.
Meanwhile, more businesses are being started as “side hustles,” or businesses that supplement day jobs. Forty-four percent of entrepreneurs who started a new business in 2023 did so while working another job, either part time or full time, up from 27 per cent in 2022.
– Mae Anderson, The Associated Press
2 Hours of free financial consulting
Jai Xin Planning Ltd.
C$120.00 C$0.00
Use any of our home staging service and get a second month rental for free!
MiiX Interiors
C$500.00 C$0.00
Get 10% off any order
Phantom Screens Lower Mainland
C$200.00 C$180.00
