Edinburgh Napier University

  This report summarises the main objectives and findings underpinning all three deliverables of Work Package 7 (WP7) of the EU STYLE project 'Business start-ups and youth self-employment'. In Europe, the rate of youth unemployment is high (20 per cent) and as a response, self-employment is perceived as one way to address it. The rate of self-employment in Europe has remained relatively stable in recent years, yet across the EU member states, there are significant variations in the rates of self-employment with these being low in some instances. Rates of youth self-employment in the EU, however, are low. All of this is set against the backdrop of no standard definition of self-employment at European level. The objective of WP7 is to conduct a gender-sensitive analysis of the factors which encourage business start-ups by the youth, the characteristics of such individuals and their businesses, self-employment outcomes and the policies which facilitate business sustainability, business growth and innovation. The first three deliverables of WP7 include: (1) Business start-ups and youth self-employment: a policy literature review; (2) Mapping patterns of self-employment: secondary analysis; (3) Start-ups and youth self-employment: case study findings.