46% of Gen Z and Millennial Owners Plan to Hire; Just 19% of Boomers Do

By Olivia Hart

46% of Gen Z and millennial business owners plan to add staff in the next year, against just 19% of baby boomer owners, according to the Q3 2026 Small Business Index from Justworks and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The gap is more than double, and it lands in a labor market that has all but stopped hiring.

Justworks CEO Mike Seckler credits generational confidence. "Young entrepreneurs, like Gen Z and millennial entrepreneurs, are much more bullish about how their businesses look, and they're more confident hiring right now than folks from older generations," Seckler told Fortune.

The bullishness goes beyond headcount. Fifty percent of young owners plan to increase investment, versus 18% of boomers. Seventy-one percent expect revenue growth, compared with 51% of older peers.

Takeaway: young owners are betting money and jobs on growth while their elders hold cash.

What does the broader market look like?

The contrast with the wider economy is sharp. Only 36% of all small business owners plan to add staff, down from 44% a year earlier — an eight-point drop.

Former Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who remains on the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors, has described the current market as low-hire, low-fire: employers are neither laying off many workers nor hiring many. Research from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis shows young adults bear the brunt of that freeze. Some economists warn the market could tip into "low-hire, more-fire."

The numbers back the caution. Just 1.9% of nonfarm workers quit their jobs in August, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics — the lowest quits rate match since 2020. The September jobs report counted only 29,000 new jobs, well below expectations, while unemployment rose to 4.2%.

Employers cite inflation tied to the Iran war and U.S. tariff policy, plus AI. One in three employers say they are replacing entry-level roles with AI, according to a Graduate Management Admission Council survey.

Takeaway: the doors young founders walked through to start hiring are the same doors employers have closed on entry-level workers.

Why aren't young founders flinching?

Seckler sees a "decoupling" between young entrepreneurs' confidence and the economy itself. Their formative years — the past five in particular — were already turbulent, so turbulence is not a deterrent.

"I think it's important to remember the context in which these folks grew up and what they had to survive over the past five years," Seckler says. "Given either what they've been through or given what they've kind of seen in their lives, I think they have a mindset of like the outside world has always been crazy and will continue to be difficult. Yet I've already proven to myself that I can thrive in this."

He also argues technology gives younger owners a structural edge: they run businesses with tools they grew up using, while incumbents must retrofit legacy processes.

"I think some of it is that Gen Z and millennial founders came of age with a whole new set of tools for building these companies that is kind of enabling them to have success and to do big things even with small teams," Seckler explains.

The survey measures intent, not outcomes — planned hires can evaporate if revenue disappoints, and the index does not track whether last year's plans were met.

Takeaway: confidence plus modern tooling explains part of the gap; the rest is simply lower expectations of stability.

Is entrepreneurship now the safer bet for Gen Z?

Seckler says young people's trust in institutions has dropped. They no longer believe that if "they put their heads down, good outcomes will happen." Building something themselves now reads as the lower-risk option.

The data reflects that shift. Nearly 38% of recent and soon-to-be college graduates surveyed for ZipRecruiter's 2026 Graduate Report said they are considering starting their own business, as Fortune previously reported.

"The old model was: graduate, find an entry-level job, climb from there," Nicole Bachaud, labor economist at ZipRecruiter, said in a statement. "What we're seeing now is something less linear, yet their outcomes are actually improving."

"Grads are piecing together experience through internships, side work, stepping-stone roles, and even starting their own ventures," she added.

If that piecework path keeps delivering, the hiring gap between young founders and boomer owners may widen before it closes.