This new wave includes solo entrepreneurs such as Brad Dinerman of Ashland, Mass., who was laid off from his job in October as vice president of an IT consulting firm and then started his own IT consulting business.

Since taking that step, Dinerman, 43, has not taken a vacation and puts in irregular hours to meet client and business needs. But working solo is more emotionally satisfying. "It all ties back to me -- no one else is getting the rewards of the work that I've done," he said.

There are many others who are acting similarly. A quarterly survey of 3,000 job seekers conducted by Chicago-based outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., released Thursday, shows a near doubling in the year-to-year growth of job seekers turning to self-employment.

Of the survey respondents, 8.7 percent that gained employment in the second quarter did so by starting their own business, reported Challenger.

In the prior quarter, that figure was at 6.4%. The percentage of jobless managers and executives surveyed by Challenger who are heading off on their own isn't as great as in 2004, when it spiked above 12% one quarter, but it is evidence of growing entrepreneurship. The survey doesn't break out job categories.