Another sign that the population of independent knowledge workers is growing comes from recent statistics published about microbusinesses, firms that are individually owned and do not have employees.
Steve Strauss is an expert on entrepreneurship and small business. He writes in a December AllBusiness online newsletter, "This new generation of technologically savvy, Internet-connected entrepreneurs has the advantage of creating businesses with a worldwide reach, and they can offer countless goods and services without having to hire staff and incur the expense of employees."
Jim Hopkins writes in USA TODAY that in 2006 the number of microbusinesses reached almost 20 million, up 27 percent from 1997. The number of companies with employees rose only 7.3 percent during the same period, to 5.9 million. Microbusiness receipts rose to $887 billion in 2004, and 7 percent annual growth puts the total at $1 trillion in 2006.
Comments