Economics
Almost 500,000 U.S. Businesses Opened Since Pandemic Start
- Openings determined by counting new listings on Yelp website
- About 60% of firms in professional, local, home, auto sectors
Photographer: Maranie Staab/Bloomberg
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Almost half a million new businesses opened in the U.S. in the first year of the pandemic, Yelp Inc. data showed, illustrating the resilience of American entrepreneurs.
The 487,577 openings were determined by counting new businesses listed on Yelp’s online platform, which enables consumers to review local firms. The report by the company, released Wednesday, looked at openings from March 11, 2020 -- when the World Health Organization declared the Covid-19 outbreak a global pandemic -- to March 1 of this year. The number of new businesses is 14% lower than a year earlier.