Displaced Workers as Entrepreneurs

National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship examines displaced workers choosing entrepreneurial strategies as a solution for their unemployment.

"North Carolina's New Opportunities for Workers (NOW) program, which provides entrepreneurship training to displaced workers, is one recent example of such an effort. These strategies make sense according to a new survey of unemployed Americans by Right Management Consultants, a Philadelphia based career transition firm. Overall, 44% of the unemployed consider self-employment. Only 10% actually take the leap, a percentage equivalent to the levels of entrepreneurial activity found in the general US population. Another interesting survey finding concerns the age of those with this interest. Older workers (aged 61 plus) have the highest levels of interest in self-employment while younger workers (aged 21-30) have the lowest interest levels. These findings run contrary to other research that shows that entrepreneurial activity is most prevalent among those between the ages of 25-44."