Yesterday, MarketPlace’s Morning Report had a story titled, “It pays to play as you age.” The story talked about older artists, Rolling Stones, Dolly Parton, and Clint Eastwood, in their very senior years, were still active at their craft. I would add Smokey Robinson to this list.
The story reported that the 55 to 64-year-old group accounted for 25% of the new entrepreneurs. This group has also seen their share of the self-employed increase. This age group is often your middle managers who are released when companies downsize. Logically, this group would leverage skills gained and become self-employment.
Going Out On My Own
Notably, 13% of women aged 35 to 64 are self-employed, not incorporated. It’s important to highlight that Asian, Black, Indigenous American, and Multiracial women are underrepresented in this group, making up only 9%. However, these women comprise 35% of all self-employed women who are not incorporated. Unfortunately, they comprise only 4% of self-employed women who are incorporated (as seen in Table 1).
Source: 2022 American Community Survey. Calculations by the Women’s Insitute for Science, Equity and Race
Among the self-employed, not incorporated, Hispanic women make up 5%. Nearly one in every five self-employed, non-incorporated, women identifies as Hispanic, making up 19% of this group. Regarding incorporated self-employed individuals, Hispanic women make up only 2%. However, among women who are self-employed, incorporated, 15% identify as Hispanic.
Source: 2022 American Community Survey. Calculations by the Women’s Insitute for Science, Equity and Race
The data in Table 1 and Table 2 do not measure changes in self-employment over the years. However, they show disparities in the distribution of men and women by self-employment status. I am collaborating with students at Spelman College to explore changes over the past 20 years. I will share our findings in the upcoming months.
