The Great Resignation era of workers are returning to the workforce but not as originally imagined.  With new priorities and values, Americans are searching for a new job or a new career, which also means becoming an entrepreneur.

Employers, especially those in strained industries such as transportation and finance, are fighting to keep current employees and compete to grab candidates within the same industry who may have quit another company. Companies are shifting their policies to better accommodate hybrid or remote work schedules, as well as bonuses to retain current employees and to hire new ones.

The latest report from the Census Bureau’s Business Formation Statistics shows that nearly 1.4 million applications have been filed to form new businesses likely to hire employees. Since 2018, new business applications filed per week averaged 67,000, but since June 2021 that number has skyrocketed to 100,000 new business applications per week. Thompson, an entrepreneur herself, says “Entrepreneurship has always been part of the American spirit. But with so much uncertainty in the past few years, these Covid-preneurs want more control over their future.”