EU Youth Enterprise and Unemployment (YEU) - User Needs Analysis Report

Rising youth unemployment figures across Europe and the persisting current economic climate reveal, more than ever, the urgent need for our young people to develop the strategies and tools that will empower and enable them to successfully enter the job market. The goal of the YEU project, however, is to go further. In a climate where there is little choice in the type of jobs available and a mass of competition, we hope to inspire and assist young people to look to themselves as a resource- as an entrepreneur. The report’s outcomes will help inform the content of online support materials that will help young people start their own businesses, and understand what is required to develop an entrepreneurial spirit, both in attitude and skill-set. Its findings will also help underpin the technical design of the YEU online e-learning materials and business game, and their ongoing process of assessment and development. To this end, the research sets out to define the most important characteristics of young people’s entrepreneurship and employment training from across the participating countries and draw trends from a wider European perspective. In doing so, the report analyses the results of research carried out by the YEU project partners into the entrepreneurship training needs of young people (employed, unemployed, in education and not in education or employment) as well as an analysis of the training needs of creative and IT business sectors, as these are the industries young people are likely to seek careers. The conclusions of the Leonardo funded YENTELS (Young Entrepreneurs E-Learning Suite) project have also been included, to enable the YEU project to learn from the successes and challenges of its predecessor. Primary and secondary research methods were used and feedback has been gained from a total of approximately 40 stakeholders and 900 young people across Europe. A range of quantitative and qualitative research findings have been identified in the areas of young people’s employment, business start-up options, with general research observations and research experiences also recorded by the partners. Conclusions have been made in the areas of young people’s employment, business start-up issues, pan-European employment trends and European policies. The report also provides recommendations at European and National level to reduce youth unemployment and encourage youth entrepreneurship. Finally, it has a number of recommendations as to how YEU can proceed with the development of materials and on-line resources to ensure that these meet the needs of the young people and stakeholders consulted during the research.