Wisconsin IDEA
Insight • Data • Economics • Analysis
Nonemployer Businesses Source of Income and Future Job Growth
Since The Great Recession, businesses with no paid employees (i.e., nonemployer businesses) have led business growth in Wisconsin. This growth is most pronounced in urban communities, growing near 10% since 2010. Employer businesses—or businesses with paid employees—have grown much more modestly, even declining in rural Wisconsin. This rise in self-employment through nonemployer establishments is an entrepreneurial seedbed for the Wisconsin economy. These firms provide income for owners themselves and are potential sources of future job creation.
WIndicators Volume 4, Number 2: Nonemployer Businesses & Diversity
Nonemployer establishments, sole proprietorships and partnerships without any paid employees, are an important part of the country’s economy. As of 2018, they made up a large and quickly growing share of businesses in the United States at 77% of the total while the other 23% of establishments were employer businesses…
