Percent Change in Proprietor Employment, 2001 – 2018, January 2020

East-West Gateway’s January 2020 Map of the Month examines the change in proprietor employment from 2001 to 2018. Proprietor employment covers non-traditional employment that is filed with IRS individual tax forms and excludes W-2s. Nationally, proprietor employment increased 64.5 percent over this time period (28.2 million to 46.4 million employees). This is roughly three times the overall employment growth rate of 21.3 percent. Proprietor employment grew the fastest the within the eastern, southern, and western portions of the United States. Additionally, many areas of growth were near population centers. The areas of proprietor employment loss tended to be concentrated in the Midwest region.