Just 3.7 percent of high-level job seekers exiting the program were starting new businesses down from 7.6 percent in the first half of 2009 and 9.6 percent in the second half of last year, according to a survey conducted by the company on July 19.

Experts suggest that an improving job market and the difficulty getting small business loans may be steering people away from entrepreneurship, said Business Week.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said last week that small businesses, and especially startups, are crucial to job growth and economic recovery. Bernanke once again called on banks to loosen credit to small businesses.

Some see the lower startup rate as a sign that the economy is improving. The unemployment rate is still high, but the private sector added 593,000 jobs in the first half of 2010, according the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Startup activity typically increases as the economy improves, Challenger CEO John Challenger said in a statement.

Many of the construction jobs created by the housing boom will probably not return, which spells trouble for men without a college education. More than 1.6 million construction jobs were lost in the past two years. And many high-paying jobs in the financial sector may not be coming back, said the Journal.

The recession also hastened the end of jobs that were already becoming obsolete thanks to advancing technology. The ranks of administrative and clerical workers fell by 10 percent in the past two years, and even as the economy recovers many of those tasks will become automated, said the Journal.

The permanent loss of these jobs will likely slow a recovery, as it will take time to create new types of jobs and retrain workers to do them, said the Journal.

The unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 10 percent last month, from 10.2 percent in October, as employers cut the fewest number of jobs since the recession began. The average work week and earnings also rose in November, the Labor Department reported.

The economy shed 11,000 jobs last month, an improvement from October’s revised total of 111,000 lost jobs, and significantly better than the 130,000 Wall Street economists had expected in November, said the Associated Press.

Economists say that substantial job growth is needed to make a dent in the unemployment rate. According to the Labor Department, 15.4 million unemployed people are seeking work, and 11.5 million others are working part-time but want full-time jobs or have given up job hunting altogether.

In a troubling sign for small businesses, a survey by the National Federation of Independent Business showed more small companies plan to reduce employment in the next three months than plan to add jobs, said the AP.