And now, more unexpected fallout from the recession: senior citizen entrepreneurs.

If you're not already seeing a demographic shift in the makeup of your small business clients, you probably will soon. A recent study by the Kauffman Foundation, a private organization which tracks entrepreneurism, indicates that to 24-to-34 age bracket of entrepreneurs behind start-up companies, which ruled during the dot.com boom, now has the lowest rate, surpassed by entrepreneurs age 55 to 64, whose start-ups increased 36 percent in 2008. In total, more than 80 percent of all startups were by people over 40 years of age.

This shouldn't come as a surprise: older workers have been disproportionately affected by the brutal layoffs of recent years, and many close to retirement age have had their portfolios decimated by hard times — their age precludes them from getting another traditional job, and they and can't afford to retire (just think of all those “consultants” out there).