The decline of the job search & the rise of 40+ solopreneurs
We’re too burned out to think about applying for new jobs, so we’re creating our own.
After the year that was 2025, I don’t blame you if you don’t want to look for a new job. Especially if you’re an information worker.
Many of us 40-plusers wasted too much of our precious time hunting and not enough time upskilling in 2025. We threw too many hours at updating our resumes and portfolios, prepping for interviews, researching company strategies, crafting follow-up emails, creating interview presentations, and taking tests. (I clocked 40 hours on an editing test from a hiring manager who said I was perfect for the job. Luckily, they paid me for it. And then they decided to eliminate the position altogether).
Which is why the results of this job application survey make sense.
According to the Monster 2026 WorkWatch Report, just 43% of U.S. workers say they plan to search for a new job in 2026, which is down from 93% in 2025. The U.S. is in a “hiring recession,” and 2025 was the worst year for total job gains outside of a recession since 2003. Couple that with these January corporate layoffs, and we’ve set the stage for highly skilled, experienced professionals to take matters into their own hands.
Major corporate layoffs in January 2026
- January 29, 2026: Dow to cut 4,500 employees in AI overhaul.
- January 28, 2026: Amazon cuts 16,000 jobs globally to “undo pandemic-era hiring.”
- January 27, 2026: UPS plans to lay off 30,000 employees in 2026.
- January 26, 2026: Nike to cut 775 employees as it accelerates automation at U.S. distribution centers.
In response, currently employed people are staying in their jobs even if they don’t love them, even if they’re underpaid. Some professionals are getting crafty about seeking new opportunities within their current companies, while others are turning to side hustles to bring in extra money or explore what could eventually become a new career path. Future-of-work strategist Julie Fedele calls this trend Quiet Building.
Nearly two-thirds of American workers say they’re turning to extra income streams in 2026, with 32% already holding a side hustle and 30% planning to start one in 2026, according to the Monster survey.
You know what they say about downturns — they’re a perfect time to build startups. Let’s add solopreneurship to that phenomenon.
As a new solopreneur, I’m experiencing epiphanies like you wouldn’t believe — spawning ideas left and right, dot-connecting like a champ — and have begun writing a book. I might call it Midfluence.
Originally I wanted to create a guide for folks building businesses in the 40+ women’s empowerment space, emphasizing the perimenopause “market.” The early concept gushed out of me after participating in one of the most invigorating experiences of my career: a perimenopause think tank with an international group of experts, for a Fortune 500 company.
Now I’m evolving the OG book nugget into a closer look at the Modern Midlife Empowerment movement and the future of 40+ entrepreneurship. Why? Because we’re living in an age of AI and ageism convergence, which disrupts our parents’ framework for traditional retirement. We’re living longer than ever before, yes, but we need to figure out how to pay for all the years in case we don’t get universal basic income.
I mean, I’m planning to live to at least 95. (It used to be 88, but I changed my mind when I turned 44.)
In 2026, the oldest Millennial is 46, and as I’ve learned from building The Midst, the Millennial experience differs from the Gen X and Boomers’ experience of midlife and aging. Millennials and Gen X are experiencing midlife at a time of significant financial uncertainty.
Many current 40-, 50-, and even 60-somethings have valuable professional and life experience but are unsure if they can rely on old definitions of retirement and long-term financial security. Because of this and the fact that people want to live meaningful lives, one of the fastest growing segments of small business owners are people 45+.
The good news
Disruption has a way of leading to better outcomes. Today’s “Great” Work Shift is a tremendous opportunity for experienced, knowledgeable doers to create enjoyable businesses of one.
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The Midst is a community-driven platform leaning into the messy middle of life pivots, career and relationship upgrades, solopreneurship, perimenopause, and so much more. We help women play by their own rules to become the women they are meant to be.
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