By European Commission
MEMO
Brussels, 9 January 2013
37% of Europeans would like to be their own boss
"Entrepreneurship in the EU and beyond" details public attitudes to various issues related to entrepreneurship, such as entrepreneurial education, risk-taking, start-ups, obstacles to entrepreneurship and business failures. It also compares these attitudes with other countries, such as the US, China, India and Russia.
1. Self-employment vs. employee status
In 2012, 37% of Europeans surveyed said that they would like to be self-employed, while a majority (58%) would prefer to be an employee.
In 2009, 45% wanted to be self-employed, while 49% said that they would prefer working as an employee. This development, which is similar in China and the US, reflects the current economic situation with less promising business prospects and the increased wish for a secure employment.
Self-employment is generally more popular among non-EU respondents: This option is most popular in Turkey (82% vs. 15% who favour employment), followed by Brazil (63% vs. 33%), China (56% vs. 32%), Croatia (54% vs. 40%) and South Korea (53% vs. 46%). However, some non-EU countries are more in line with the EU results, notably Norway, where 73% of respondents favour employment and only 23% say they would rather be self-employed, as well as Switzerland (58% vs. 39%) and Israel (58% vs. 34%).
In the United States the preference to be an employee has notably increased from 37% to 46%.
Would you prefer to be your own boss? - Overview of attitudes in EU Member States
2. Large differences between Member States concerning the desirability for self-employment
Highest in Lithuania and Greece, lowest in Sweden and Finland: As in 2009, there are wide variations between individual EU Member States: in six EU countries, a relative majority of respondents say they would rather be self-employed than work as an employee, with an absolute majority giving this answer in two countries: Lithuania (58%) and Greece (50%). Self-employment is least popular in Sweden (22%), Finland (24%), Denmark (28%) and Slovenia (28%).
In 19 of the 27 countries, a majority of respondents say that they would prefer to be an employee, most strikingly in Sweden (74%) and Finland (73%). There is least interest in working as an employee in Lithuania (32%) and Bulgaria (40%).
3. Men and young people prefer self-employment
Men are more likely than women to prefer self-employment (by a margin of 42% to 33%), while women are more likely to prefer working as an employee (63% vs. 53%).
Younger respondents are more inclined to express a preference for self-employment: 45% of 15-24 year-olds say they would prefer to be self-employed, as opposed to 35-37% of people in the three older age groups.
4. What holds back the Europeans to starting up a business?
The fear of bankruptcy is one of the largest obstacles for many people to start a business: 43% of EU respondents say they would be afraid of the risk of going bankrupt (-6 points compared with 2009 survey), while 33% say that the risk of irregular income would make them afraid of setting up a business (-7 points).
Again there are considerable differences between countries: in three EU Member States, a majority of respondents say that they would be afraid of the possibility of going bankrupt if they were to start a business. Results range from Romania (56%) to Finland (23%). Spain (55%) is the only country where a majority of people say that they would fear the risk of losing their home or property; only 12% say this in Cyprus.
A large majority of EU respondents think that it is difficult to start one's own business due to a lack of available financial support (79%) and due to the complexities of the administrative process (72%). Moreover 51% of EU respondents think that it is difficult to obtain sufficient information on how to start a business.
There are wide national differences on these questions. For example, 96% of people in Greece cite a lack of available financial support, whereas only 52% of people in Finland do so. And while 77% of respondents in Greece say it is difficult to obtain sufficient information, only 20% of respondents in the Netherlands complain about this.
The non-EU results are broadly in line with the EU results: at one end of the scale, 88% of people in both South Korea and Russia say that it is difficult to start one's own business due to a lack of available financial support while, at the other end of the scale, just 56% of those in Norway say this. The proportion of people in the non-EU countries who agrees that it is difficult to obtain sufficient information ranges from 78% in China to 34% in Switzerland.
5. Key considerations when starting a business
In Europe 87% of the respondents who have started or taken over a business say that having an appropriate business idea was important to their decision to do so; 84% say that getting the necessary financial resources was important.
EU respondents stressed other important factors to their decision to start a business, as the contact with an appropriate business partner (68%), a role model (62%) and addressing an unmet social or ecological need (61%).Also dissatisfaction with their previous work situation was an important factor to 55% of people who started a business:
At country level, the issue of whether an appropriate business partner was important produced the widest variations, with results ranging from 90% in Hungary to 48% in Malta. The number of people who say that contact with an appropriate business partner was important to their decision increased in several non-EU countries, notably Norway (64%, +10 points). However, in Turkey (63%, -23 points) it declined considerably.
Whether a role model is needed also produced broad differences, ranging from 86% in Italy to 43% in Denmark.The non-EU data show a very similar picture. At one end of the scale, 87% of people in Brazil say that a role model was important to their decision to start a business, as do 84% in both China and South Korea; but less than half of the respondents say this is Russia (46%) and Norway (47%).
The proportion of respondents saying that addressing an unmet social or ecological need was important in their decision to start a business rose by 6 percentage points at EU level. In contrast, the non-EU data show that the number of people who say that addressing an unmet social or ecological need was important in their decision only increased in four countries, most strikingly in South Korea (89%, +18 points) and China (86%, +11 points). Elsewhere, this factor was regarded as being less important than in 2009, with the largest decline occurring in Japan (73%, -13 points).
The proportion of respondents who regard dissatisfaction with work as an important factor declined in 19 EU countries, with the largest falls in Slovakia (51%, -24 points) and Latvia (51%, -21 points). There was a similar pattern in the non-EU countries, with a range of increases and decreases. The largest upward evolutions occurred in South Korea (77%, +14 points) and China (74%, +9 points), while the most substantial negative changes were recorded in Turkey (54%,
