As the number of unemployed or underemployed Americans continues to grow, social enterprises – business that hire the hard-to-employ and those with significant barriers to work – could help connect poor workers to jobs, argues a new report from the American Enterprise Institute. Barriers to Work and Social Enterprise: Estimating the Target Population estimates that approximately 6.6 million prime-age (25-54) Americans face a barrier targeted by social enterprises, including criminal records, mental illnesses, substance abuse problems, or homelessness. Combining those individuals with nearly 3 million low-income disconnected youth, social enterprises have a potential target population of nearly 10 million, according to the report.
