{"id":258115,"date":"2025-09-27T07:02:22","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T07:02:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/258115\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T07:02:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T07:02:22","slug":"faced-with-a-stagnant-job-market-these-gen-xers-chose-self-employment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/258115\/","title":{"rendered":"Faced With A Stagnant Job Market, These Gen Xers Chose Self-Employment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The job market is tough for employees of all ages and experience levels right now. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate<\/a> in August was 4.3%, the highest it’s been since late 2021.<\/p>\n

However, for older workers who have higher salary and title expectations and who face roadblocks like ageism or being overqualified, the job hunt can be even harder. As a result, a growing number are turning to self-employment, Business Insider<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Don’t Miss:<\/strong><\/p>\n

DJ Perdue<\/strong> is one of them. After losing his job as a Walmart manager, the 50-year-old says he spent a year and a half applying to ten or more jobs a day. Eventually, he decided to take matters into his own hands and opened Teeny Town<\/a>, an indoor playspace for kids in Union City, California.<\/p>\n

“I had to do something,” he told Business Insider. “And it was something I had always wanted to do.”<\/p>\n

Rick J. Sanchez <\/strong>has had a similar experience. The 49-year-old spent years climbing the ladder, starting in hardware and software sales before opening an Allstate practice and then moving on to business development and startup consultation roles.<\/p>\n

Trending: Backed by $300M+ in Assets and Microsoft’s Climate Fund, Farmland LP<\/strong><\/a> Opens Vital Farmland III to Accredited Investors<\/strong><\/p>\n

When he eventually decided he wanted to return to a more traditional career path, he found it was harder than he’d anticipated to land a job.<\/p>\n

“You can\u2019t put founder or president or board chair of anything on your r\u00e9sum\u00e9 and get a call back,\u201d he told the outlet.<\/p>\n

So, after a year and a half of job hunting, he launched his own PR and crisis communication firm called Mentratik<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019ve only been in existence for about a year,\u201d he says.\u201dBut it sure beats pounding the pavement looking for work every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sallie Griffiths <\/strong>spent decades working as a C-suite leader, building business development teams and training relators. When she was laid off in 2024, she noticed that many of the opportunities that would have once been open to her no longer were, thanks to her age and experience levels.<\/p>\n

See Also: The ECG Hasn’t Changed in 100 Years \u2014 This AI Upgrade Could Help Detect Heart Disease Years Earlier<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

So she took a full-time role at a franchise, which came with a massive pay cut and has forced her to think creatively about how to make ends meet.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, I\u2019m spinning about five different plates at any given time,\u201d she told Business Insider.<\/p>\n

With what little spare time she has, Griffiths has launched a consulting business<\/a> that helps entrepreneurs like herself, Sanchez, and Perdu get their ideas off the ground.<\/p>\n

These three aren’t alone in their choice to open their own companies instead of pursuing existing roles at established businesses. According to an analysis of Census Bureau data done by Business Insider, in 2024, 12% of employed people ages 44 to 59 were self-employed. For many, it seems self-employment has become something of a lifeline in a stagnant job market.<\/p>\n

Read Next: Have $100k+ to invest? Charlie Munger says that’s the toughest milestone \u2014 don’t stall now. Get matched with a fiduciary advisor and keep building<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Image: Imagn Images<\/strong><\/p>\n

Up Next: Transform your trading with Benzinga Edge’s one-of-a-kind market trade ideas and tools. Click now to access unique insights<\/strong><\/a> that can set you ahead in today’s competitive market.<\/p>\n

Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga?<\/p>\n

This article Faced With A Stagnant Job Market, These Gen Xers Chose Self-Employment<\/a> originally appeared on Benzinga.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2025 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The job market is tough for employees of all ages and experience levels right now. According to the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":258116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[13635,64,4381,135702,135703,420,104782,2179,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-258115","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-bureau-of-labor-statistics","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-business-insider","11":"tag-experience-levels","12":"tag-j-sanchez","13":"tag-jobs","14":"tag-self-employment","15":"tag-unemployment-rate","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115274982691687214","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}