Press Release: 45% of Europeans would like to be their own boss if …

45% of all Europeans would like to be their own boss if they could. Compared to the US where 55% of the population would like to be self-employed this figure is however still low. Yet while the preference for self-employment has significantly decreased in the US (by 6 points since 2007) it remained stable for Europe. One of the reasons for the higher US figures could be that 73% of all US citizens but only 49% of the people in the EU declare that they have a good opinion of entrepreneurs. The aim of the survey is to have a better understanding of entrepreneurship, to identify the reasons which encourage people to become entrepreneurs and to find out which obstacles exist. The results of the 2009 survey will help the Commission in the shaping of its policy-making. For the first time the survey includes countries from Asia (China, Japan, South Korea).

European Commission: Memo: MEMO/10/232:European attitudes to Entrepreneurship http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/10/232&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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