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'Jobless entrepreneurship' trend means more solo ventures, less hiring

Entrepreneurship seems slightly misstated here and some conclusions are suspect, and this is why:

Employers are looking to remain flexible, so they're hiring independent contractors, which means that one has no choice but to become a sole proprietorship, which is the automatic designation when one becomes self-employed.

To confirm this point, the study specifically states that the data it takes from the CPS includes, "all business owners, including those who own incorporated or unincorporated businesses."

Secondly, looking at their conclusion of age group changes relative to the number of the self-employed, it's also possible that the rise in entrepreneurship (forced self-employment) among older Americans reflects age bias in hiring. There is some anecdotal evidence that this is occurring, at a time when employers have greater room to be picky (big labor supply, low labor demand).

The IRS has been clamping down on "independent contractors" with a single sources of income.

But it's not hard to see why employers wish to take this approach; "employees" are getting more and more expensive, and will become even more so next year when the tax laws change. Nobody wants to commit to more than they absolutely have to. It's sad that "employees" are now considered more liability than asset.