Note that while the drop is certainly significant, the vertical scale of the graph is misleadingly zoomed in on a narrow range. Looks like it dropped from a pe

Note that while the drop is certainly significant, the vertical scale of the graph is misleadingly zoomed in on a narrow range. Looks like it dropped from a peak of about 20.25 in 2005, to just under 19 in 2009. What's being tracked here is the number of companies that employ individuals other than the owner/founder. Such an entity is very different from a self-employed "business of one", and it's a great and important thing to measure. The reduction is very interesting. One of my major goals with my own business - founded in 2009 - is to create jobs. Not the primary goal, but certainly on the short list. I know that's traditionally been a motivator for many other entrepreneurs, and I wonder if that motivation has become less common. I'd like to think it hasn't, and instead it's just been harder to pull off in recent years.