Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent chided us this morning for not paying enough attention to the acceleration of business formation in the U.S., which he highlighted as one of the effects of the Trump administration’s pro-growth policies.
The numbers suggest Secretary Bessent has a point. This does deserve more of our attention. So here we go.
Speaking at Breitbart News’s “State of the Economy” event, Bessent pointed to the entrepreneurial surge as evidence that the administration is making America more business-friendly and “reprivatizing” the economy. He also highlighted artificial intelligence’s role in making it easier to start a business. (Watch the video of the event here.)
A Business Baby Boom
Americans filed 578,926 new business applications in July, an increase of 8.1 percent from June and 23.4 percent from a year earlier. That was the highest monthly total in the Census Bureau’s seasonally adjusted series, which stretches back to July 2004. It exceeded even the extraordinary July 2020 pandemic surge by 5.9 percent.
This is broader than a spectacular month. Applications increased in April, May, June, and July. The three-month average reached a record 547,848, up 9.8 percent from the preceding three months. Through July, the unadjusted count totaled 3.87 million, an increase of 13.8 percent from the same period last year and 79.4 percent from 2019.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member