Women are leading the nation’s entrepreneurship charge

Women and minorities have been fueling the U.S. boom in business creation over the past two years, Bloomberg reports. 

A survey finds that almost half of 2021’s new entrepreneurs were women, a significant uptick from 28% in 2019. And the share of new Black business owners tripled to 9%, according to Gusto, a payroll and human resource management business. 

The findings confirmed similar gains in separate research by web-hosting company GoDaddy Inc. Among the factors behind the surge in female entrepreneurship: child-care responsibilities. With schools and child care centers still disrupted last year, a growing share of parents—particularly women—started their own business out of necessity. 

In the Gusto survey, more than one-quarter of female business owners with school-age children said they created their company in response to increased child care duties. Read the full story.