[Petronski]

The self-employed do not show up anywhere. Their status doesn't show up in the unemployment rate, of course, but more importantly, the newly-self-employed are not counted in job creation. I'll say that again:

If an individual starts his own business, this is not counted as the creation of a job.

[KarlInOhio]

If an individual starts his own business, this is not counted as the creation of a job.

There are two primary unemployment numbers reported - the household survey and the employer (I forget the official name) survey. The employer survey misses a lot of small business and start-ups. The household survey does not.

[looscnnn]

My question then is why not? Isn't running a business a job? If they included them, then the numbers should look even better. Kinda stupid if you ask me.

[Grampa Dave]

I have often wondered about this:

The self-employed do not show up anywhere. Their status doesn't show up in the unemployment rate, of course, but more importantly, the newly-self-employed are not counted in job creation. I'll say that again: If an individual starts his own business, this is not counted as the creation of a job.

If this employment is not factored in, I know of a large number of people who were laid off, fired, retired and just quit their jobs and now are self employed. A couple of them are independent contractors and have several independent contractors working for them. All of which are probably considered unemployed.

Thanks for posting this.