evidence: "Every time someone starts a new small business, it’s an act of hope and confidence in our economy," said President Joe Biden in a statement. "Today, we learned that Americans filed 16 million new business applications during the first three years of my Administration—16 million acts of hope, the strongest stretch on record." The U.S. Census Bureau has been tracking business formation statistics since 2004 and the data released on Thursday showed that the nearly 16 million new recorded business applications since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration represent an approximately 85% increase in the average flow of monthly applications relative to the period between 2004 and January 2021. In fact, the monthly average of 440,000 new business applications over the past three years is 46% higher than the average of 2017 through 2020 combined. [...] "More Americans than ever are pursuing their dreams of business ownership as the rate of new business applications filed and establishments under President Biden continues to surge," said U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman. "In the last year alone, Americans across the country and in a wide range of industries filed a record five and a half million new business applications, bringing the total number under this Administration to a record-breaking 16 million. America’s great diversity continues to propel entrepreneurship with Black, Latino, and women founders starting up at higher rates than ever. As we enter 2024, the SBA will continue its work to increase access to the resources needed to start and grow resilient new businesses, harnessing the unique optimism and ingenuity of American entrepreneurs."