Youth self-employment: what do we need to know/do?

Youth unemployment or underemployment are ‘wicked’ problems across the globe (Burchell & Coutts, 2018). They lead to a poor start in the working life of young people in terms of their future income, housing, health and wellbeing, and retirement income. Youth entrepreneurship has been proposed as part of a suite of measures to address these problems. Entrepreneurial activities, which often lead to self-employment, are important for innovation and productivity growth. However, not all self-employment can be equated to entrepreneurial activities. For instance, self-employment is often the predominant form of work in developing countries, not from choice but due to necessity, and much of it is not entrepreneurial activity that leads to growing, prosperous businesses employing many people. Youth self-employment is also increasing in the rapidly expanding ‘gig’ or digital platform economy. Many argue that the work arrangements between the platforms and workers can be better characterised as ‘forced’ self-employment. The nature of these arrangements has been concerning and has resulted in many countries responding with regulations and legislation to protect the labour and social rights of workers mediated by the platforms. Youth self-employment is thus highly contextual and it requires varied public policy responses. This paper briefly describes what we know about youth self-employment and possible issues that public policy should address.