While the economy is slowly recovering from one of the largest recessions to date, the job market can still be hard to crack. However, people are taking matters into their own hands and are turning their passions into a business.

A new study done by the Kauffman Foundation, showed that start up businesses reached a 14 year high in 2009, according to ASI Central. The study showed that 558,000 new businesses were created in 2009, with people over 55 and African Americans leading the curve.

"Challenging economic times can serve as a motivational boost to individuals who have been laid off to become their own employers and future job creators," Carl Schramm, president of the Kauffman Foundation, told ASI Central. "Because entrepreneurs drive up the economy, the growth in 2009 business startups is encouraging and hopefully points to a trend in terms of our economic recovery."

According to the study, the five states with the biggest number of start-up businesses were: Oklahoma, Montana, Arizona, Texas and Idaho. In these states, comma roughly 450 people per 100,000 created a business in 2009.

As entrepreneurship grows, so does the number of available jobs, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The U.S. has added jobs every month, with 290,000 jobs added in April according to the BLS.