More than 900,000 Americans aged 65 and older were self-employed in December 2009 — a 29% jump from year-earlier figures. Entrepreneurship among 55-to-64-year-olds grew by “just” 5% during the same period, hitting almost 2 million.

Some bloggers have worried that this rapid growth in self-employment is a sign of economic duress among those who should be enjoying their golden years. “[I]t’s likely that, these days, many of them are choosing this path because they have to,” Anne Field writes. “They’re out of work and no one wants to hire them.”

There are some big assumptions in those two sentences, and Scott Shane of Case Western Reserve University offers some statistics to show that entrepreneurship among older Americans has always been a popular option, no matter what the economic environment.

Statistics are great, but leave it to McPaper to illuminate the issue through anecdotes. Sure, there are reluctant entrepreneurs like Bryan Goodman, who became a full-time eBay merchant after losing his job at age 53. But I’d bet for every Bryan Goodman, there are four or five Patrick Althizers, who loves the lifestyle afforded by his company, Photo Safari Yosemite.

Althizer toiled in finance for three decades before retirement finally gave him the time to pursue photography, a passion he abandoned when he got “diverted” by his career. Now he has a family business, work he actually enjoys doing, and a company that could become “a legacy for my family.”

That sounds a lot healthier than watching soap operas and waiting for the Social Security check — in the case of GenXers like me, a check that will probably never arrive.