Youth unemployment and entrepreneurship

Abstract

High level of youth unemployment, a global problem ever since the world economic crisis has started, poses a serious problem in our society as well. Public policy makers are seeking to find solutions to this problem by stimulating the development of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, with special emphasis being placed on youth entrepreneurship development. Several strategies defining incentivizing measures have been adopted at the national level, yet there is an evident lack of a systematic and consistent development approach supported across all relevant sectors. An analysis of the position of young entrepreneurs in Serbia indicates that in order to develop youth entrepreneurship, the first necessary step should be systematic work on fostering entrepreneurial culture in the society through the involvement of all the relevant stakeholders, the public sector, business community, the civil society. High-quality education, along with entrepreneurship education, is considered to be a key factor for the development of entrepreneurship. Research at the global level has shown that non-formal forms of education lead to particularly favorable effects in entrepreneurship education, whereas the 'Student Company' model has been recognized as the best model of good practice. For us, a particular barrier in the development of youth entrepreneurship is observed in the limited funding modalities. Therefore, it is necessary to improve legal frameworks and develop mechanisms to facilitate access to funds. In addition to this, it is important to reduce the fiscal and parafiscal load for young entrepreneurs in the initial stages of their business operations. In order to increase the degree of innovativeness of the economy as a prerequisite for the development of entrepreneurship in general, it is necessary to change the system of management of science and innovation in Serbia, increase the level of investment in this sector, increase the relevance of scientific research for the development of the economy and develop incentivizing financial mechanisms, along with an institutional framework for linking science and economy.