Abstract
Youth unemployment is one of the central concerns affecting global economics in the world today. The recent World Economic Forum held at Davos prioritized the discussions on issues confronting youth unemployment. The International Labor Office (ILO, 2013) projected a global youth unemployment rate of 12.7% by 2017. According to the ILO, (2013), 202 million people are unemployed globally and 40% are under the age of 24. South Africa fares even worse. Statistics SA (2012) indicates that 71% of the unemployed are aged 25-34 and the unemployment rate among youth is 36%. About 3.3 million youth aged 15-34 are not employed or studying (Financial Mail, 7th February 2013). With this in mind, the paper intends to look at the perceptions affecting youth entrepreneurship development in South Africa and whether entrepreneurial education and training fosters the development of entrepreneurial orientation in the South African youth. A five point Likert Scale was used, 1 = Strongly disagree 3 = Neutral and 5 = Strongly agree. Furthermore, a quantitative research method was used and 132 grade eleven learners were purposefully selected randomly in Crawford high school in Gauteng. Findings indicate that entrepreneurship education and training can direct students towards certain career choices; secondly, planned behavior can be predicted; and thirdly, practically is able to increase the propensity of students to start a business. Keywords: SA, learners, entrepreneurship culture, orientation, education, youth unemployment. JEL Classification: L26, J24
Highlights
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM, 2011) estimates that 388 million entrepreneurs were actively engaged in starting or running new businesses in 2011
Walstad & Kourilsky (1999) investigated the attitudes towards, education and knowledge of entrepreneurship among black youth, and the observation of the findings found that the low level of knowledge about entrepreneurship were a major problem for the youth and in particular the African Blacks
This study answered all the research questions that were set out and the following were conclusions: education is vital in creating an understanding of entrepreneurship, developing entrepreneurial capababilities, and contributing to entrepreneurial identities and cultures at individual, collective and social level
Summary
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM, 2011) estimates that 388 million entrepreneurs were actively engaged in starting or running new businesses in 2011. A further area of concern is the low involvement in early stage entrepreneurial activity in the 18-24 years and 25-34 years age categories, reported in the (GEM, 2010) South African report. According to the Western Cape Youth Report (2008), preliminary research has suggested that entrepreneurship education can have a significant positive influence on four areas crucial to entrepreneurship. These include the learners’ selfconfidence about their ability to start a business, the learners’ understanding of financial and business issues, the learners’ desire to start their own business and the learners’ desire to undertake higher education. Steenekamp (2011) believes that entrepreneurship education should be seen as a vehicle to promote business start-up on at least three levels: firstly, at the attitudinal level directing students towards certain career choices; secondly, at the intentional level where planned behavior can be predicted; and thirdly, at the practical level where it increases the propensity of students to start a business
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