ENTREPRENEURIAL OPPORTUNITIES AND THE NEW EMPLOYMENT DOMAINS ON THE

CURRENT LABOUR MARKET – EMPIRICAL RESEARCH

Nicoleta LITOIU, Ph.DAssociated professor

University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Romania

General information about the research design (I)The empirical research:

• focused on the development of entrepreneurial opportunities correlated with the new occupations on the labor market

• was performed within the POSDRU Project “Developing the entrepreneurial competences - an efficient alternative for adaptation to the labour market in the information society” (ID 62353).

General information about the research design (II)• was designed in accordance with the analysis

results of the documents regarding the entrepreneurship in its relationship with the social-economic and the educational-formative fields and the dynamics of the labour market.

• used a combination of data collection methods and instruments (focus-group-type interview and questionnaire) administered to the following categories of the target group: employees, employers and persons who want to start business/ independent activity.

General information about the research design (III)• Period of research (from the data collection instrument

design to the data analysis and interpretation, as well as the development of the final study): March to December 2011.

• The sample - 150 respondents employees and persons who want to start an

independent activity: • 72.5% are aged under 20 years old• 17% are aged between 30 and 40 years old• 9% are aged from 40 to 50 years old• 1.5% are over 50 years old

Employers: most of them are persons aged from 30 to 40 years old, 76.5% are men, and 23.5% are women.

Issues investigated

• Opinions of respondents about the entrepreneurship

• The entrepreneur’s profile

• Motivation for starting a business

The entrepreneur’s profile

• Personal characteristics and qualities:

• decision-making capacity (74.1%)

• perseverance (71.5%)

• self-confidence (66.7%)

• capacity to put one’s ideas into implementation (58%)

• creativity (56.6%)

• communication abilities (55.1%)

Motivation for starting a business• securing a decent standard of living (31.4%)

• financial independence (23.5%)

• the personal business idea/plan, knowledge and abilities, associating with a business partner (16.3%)

• another entrepreneur’s experiences/success (15.5%)

• lack of perspective in doing something else on the professional level

Barriers in starting a business (personal and institutional)

• lack of necessary skills and competencies (i.e. marketing and financial knowledge, managerial competencies)

• lack of necessary resources • lack of initiative and self-confidence• excessive bureaucracy • lack of financial support and counselling at the

beginning or during the developing process of a business

THANK YOU!