Statistics on Self-Employed Business Owners
Robert W. Fairlie, University of California, Santa Cruz
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The most up-to-date estimates of self-employed business owners in the United States are available from the Current Population Survey (CPS). Published estimates from the CPS by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, however, do not include incorporated business owners, and thus understate the total number of self-employed business owners. I report recent estimates from calculations based on CPS microdata that fix this problem.

Self-Employed Business Ownership Rates by Race 1979-2006

Figure 2.1 in Race and Entrepreneurial Success

Table 2.2

Number and Rates of Self-Employed Business Ownership by Gender 1979-2006

Rates Figure

Number Figure

Table

Older Statistics on Self-Employed Business Owners