This is so ridiculously untrue. There are so many businesses you can run that are almost impossible to fail. There are so many failures that are actually just "OK" in that they break even or lose a little money or whatever but don't actually cause you any problem to wind down.
You have to have a certain personality type to do well as an employee and you need to fit a certain mold that employers demand. As an entrepreneur you just have to give your customers and clients what they want and nothing else really matters. You do not even really need many employees to make a very good living doing a whole lot of different things.
If anything, being an employee is overrated particularly when people have career instability in midlife. Unexpected expenses like divorce and medical crisis often hit employees and people in general very hard because it both makes them less employable and disrupts their retirement plans. As soon as an oldster has a major gap in their resume, their ability to continue to ride on the employee gravy train diminishes by a massive degree.
No doubt you can live well on a good salary and investments, but it is not the best option for everyone nor is it the only option. It is the best option for a certain kind of personality but not for everyone. I know people who dream of starting businesses but are employees but all their side projects suck and don't go anywhere in part because they are just not suited for independent business.