CSBJ Daily

While increased job cuts often lead to a rise in start-up activity, the high cost of credit and other inflationary pressures appears to be

discouraging would-be entrepreneurs

The latest reading on job-market conditions reveals that the percentage of jobless managers and executives starting their own businesses fell to its lowest level since the onset of the dot.com collapse.

The start-up rate among unemployed managers and executives fell to 4.3 percent during the second quarter, compared to 7.2 percent during the first quarter. Last year, 6 percent of job seekers abandoned the traditional job market for entrepreneurship during the second quarter, according to the latest Challenger, Gray & Christmas Job Market Index.

The second quarter figure was the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2000, when only 3.5 percent of job seekers started their own firms.