I'm not talking about temporary work off the books. I am talking about starting a business. Business owners are AFAIK not counted as part of the work force for purposes of unemployment. I guess that folks like Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, Donald Trump, etc. are bad for the economy??? It just doesn't make sense to me that people are able to just say, "oh well, no jobs out there, guess I'll just quit looking," without some other means of support.
Oh yes they are. THey are the CEOs, Presidents, Owners, Principals, etc. If you get a survey and are asked if you are employed, are you goign to say, no, I own a business? NO.
If there are 600,000 more people "employed" on the household report, most if not all of them are self-employed, they are not the employee of some entreprener who has opened a new factory, blah,blah. If you are self employed, then you are the boss and you are also the janitor. I know. I fulfill both functions and all in-between.