Number of the Day
The Pandemic Startup Surge, by the Numbers
A new batch of entrepreneurs are starting up companies as unemployment rises
111,680: That’s how many applications were filed to start new businesses the week of August 10, a 69% increase over the same week last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
It’s not just a one-time spike, either. The previous week saw 113,860 applications for new business tax IDs (up 75% year-over-year). And more than 100,000 new business applications have been filed every week for the last eight weeks, surpassing the number of applications filed in the whole second quarter of 2020. Felix Salmon of Axios ties the wave of entrepreneurship to the recent surge in e-commerce sales over the course of the pandemic. With platforms like Shopify, Etsy, and Square making it easy for anyone to start a business trying to sell things online, it’s likely that a significant chunk of those new businesses are being started by people at home on their laptops.
A recession may not be a bad time to start a business, but with unemployment ticking up again (1.1 million people filed last week), the rise in new businesses may be more a sign of desperation than it is of optimism.
Turns out a lot of people are hustling their way through the pandemic.
