US data shows sharp rise in early-career entrepreneurship

Analysis from Revelio Labs in the United States shows a marked rise in early-career entrepreneurship as hiring demand softens across the economy. The findings indicate that younger workers are increasingly opting to launch their own ventures rather than pursue traditional early-career roles, marking a structural shift in how they enter and navigate the labour market.

The data highlights that the share of US job switchers becoming entrepreneurs has reached a seven year high, almost doubling from its post-pandemic low. The trend appears strongly countercyclical: as employers scale back hiring, a growing proportion of workers respond by creating their own opportunities. The cooling of the US labour market through 2024 and into 2025 has coincided with a steady increase in entrepreneurial transitions.

• Entrepreneurship among US job switchers has almost doubled: rising from 0.44% in early 2022 to 0.85% in early 2025, a seven year high.
• High-school graduates show the largest rise: a 0.18-percentage-point increase in entrepreneurship since 2023, outpacing all other education groups.
• The average age of new entrepreneurs has fallen below 34, the lowest level in several years.
• Tech attracts 18.2% of first-job entrepreneurs, the largest share of any industry.

The rise is particularly pronounced among workers without college degrees. US high school graduates have seen the largest increase in entrepreneurship rates relative to 2023, widening the gap with associate, bachelor’s and graduate-degree holders. Analysts suggest that these workers, who often face the steepest declines in entry-level hiring, are most likely to view self-employment as a practical alternative. Among graduate-degree holders, the rise may reflect a different trend as tech-adjacent professionals build independent practices in response to AI-driven changes in knowledge work.

Age patterns show a similar shift. The mean age of new US entrepreneurs has fallen below 34 for the first time in several years, suggesting that entrepreneurship is becoming a mainstream early-career option rather than a mid-career pivot. For many new entrants, the cooler hiring environment has lowered the opportunity cost of launching a venture.

US labour market entrants are also proving more responsive to downturns than incumbent workers. The pandemic shock in 2020, the white-collar slowdown of 2022–23 and the cooling of 2024–25 each triggered sharp increases in entrepreneurship among first-job workers. Their behaviour contrasts with more seasoned workers, whose transitions into self-employment are slower and less sensitive to cyclical changes.

Durability is higher than expected. More than two-thirds of first-job US entrepreneurs remain with their venture for at least three years and fewer than 7 per cent exit within the first year, challenging assumptions that early ventures are short-lived or reactive.

Tech continues to dominate as the leading landing industry for first-job US founders, accounting for 18.2 per cent of early entrepreneurs. Low capital requirements, easier access to freelance work and the acceleration of AI-enabled tools have lowered the barriers to building software-focused ventures. Other notable concentrations include marketing, public-sector management, digital commerce, HR services and finance.

The findings suggest that autonomy, flexibility and speed to market are becoming more attractive to early-career workers in the United States as they navigate a cooler hiring environment. For employers, the growing appeal of the ‘first-job founder’ highlights the need to rethink how early-career roles are structured if they are to compete with entrepreneurial alternatives: meaning, growth and flexibility are becoming essential elements of the offer.