Young people aspire to be self-employed as jobs market remains tough

The Prince's Trust surveyed more than 1,600 people aged 16 to 30. It found that 30 per cent wanted to work for themselves, while 25 per cent expected to achieve that goal within the next five years.

The figure is much higher than the actual level of self-employment. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), only 5.3 per cent of people aged 16- to 34 were self-employed between April and June in 2012.

However, ONS data also shows that the number of self-employed 18- to 34-year-olds rose by 71,000 between 2008 and 2012, to reach 842,000.  

The Prince’s Trust chief executive Martina Milburn said the research revealed “an increasingly entrepreneurial mood among young people”.

“Five years on from the start of the recession, youth unemployment remains high and many are seeing self-employment as a way to break the cycle of joblessness,” she said.

“It is critical we nurture young people’s passion for business and invest in the next generation.”

Stewart Segal, chief executive-designate at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, backed the findings. He said providers had reported that self-employment was “increasingly becoming the norm”. 

“Many training providers have for a long time used mentors or enterprise modules in their programmes to open the eyes of young people to the possibility of starting their own business and these include individuals who initially began their careers as apprentices,” said Segal.

“We need to encourage more young people to do apprenticeships and one way of achieving this is for the government’s rules to allow apprenticeships on a self-employed basis in general rather than by exception."
 
According to the Apprenticeship Act 2011, self-employed people are excluded from participating in apprenticeships apart from selected occupations such as deck hands and theatre technicians, where self-employment is standard.

The survey, conducted in partnership with Royal Bank of Scotland, also revealed that 33 per cent of young people would be more likely to consider self-employment if they had a mentor.

Of the 271 unemployed young people within the sample, 27 per cent said they would rather set up their own business than look for a job in today’s competitive market.

Michael Hay, professor of management practice in strategy and entrepreneurship at the London Business School, said: “Traditionally, Britain has lagged behind other countries in terms of the number of young entrepreneurs, but today’s report suggests that young people’s attitudes to self-employment are changing.”