Considering rapidly changing trends in the world of work, employees need to acquire new knowledge and skills constantly. Since changes occur quickly, there is a discrepancy between the employers’ needs in specific competencies and the skills of potential employees. Moreover, the structure of working relations is also changing, and a job in one company for many years is a less popular option than a freelance now. As a result of such changes, the issues of unemployment and instability arise. The development of entrepreneurship can solve the problem since entrepreneurs are influential employers. At the same time, the study of entrepreneurship can develop valuable skills, applicable not only in a business but also for finding job opportunities. The cross-sectional research design will help determine the likelihood of correlation between entrepreneurial qualities and competencies and success in work and pave the way for further research.
Global trends of a technological, social, environmental, economic and political nature contribute to constant change worldwide and affect every person. Various factors and forces also have an impact on the labour market. It is critical to review and understand the consequences of these transformations, particularly employment opportunities, job creation and the relevance of professions. For example, the global pandemic of COVID-19 became an influential impulse, which contributed to the digitalisation of many work processes and brought significant changes in the labour market (Dean and Campbell, 2020). Other trends, such as the attention to environmental issues, lead to new green jobs; the tendency of an ageing population affects vacancies appearance and the demand for medical staff (Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini, 2020). Even though the new world of work reflects progress, some features have negative consequences, contributing to the unemployment problem, which requires serious efforts to solve.
Previously, assets such as natural resources, raw materials and equipment availability played a crucial role in business. Although they are still important, another resource has become more influential – individuals and their capabilities (Stoller, 2021). In the context of globalisation and mentioned changes, companies and organisations of various types are moving to new processes where innovation and intelligent technologies play a crucial role. As a result, the enterprises’ competitiveness depends on employees with the necessary skills to generate and implement ideas and introduce new technologies. Following the current trends, the labour market will require fewer manual and physical skills and more social, emotional and technological competencies (Dondi et al., 2021). Individuals need to learn and improve new skills to succeed.
At the same time, many jobs and skills are rapidly becoming obsolete and redundant. Digitalisation and automation contribute to the acceleration of tasks and, at the same time, supplant a person’s work (Dondi et al., 2021). Artificial Intelligence (AI) is expected to replace many component tasks, about 14% of jobs can be fully automated, and 32% – partially (Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini, 2020). It is difficult for people to concentrate on a specific activity to achieve proficiency in such quickly changing conditions. The simultaneous demand for new skills, the training of which is still little accessible due to their novelty, and the loss of relevance of acquired skills lead to unemployment.
The structure of the working relationship between employers and employees is also changing. The situation when a person works with one company all their life becomes rarer – employees are becoming more mobile. Here, the gig economy and non-standard employment through the platform play an important role. In such circumstances, workers contract with organisations, usually remaining freelance, and their work is short-term (Ashford, Caza and Reid, 2018). Such activities have advantages in balancing other responsibilities and lives and emphasise the importance of employees’ skills relevance. Temporary employment in various companies also brings difficulties to the lives of modern workers, forcing them to face instability. With the increased transience of the skills’ relevance, challenges in managing own employment become an additional factor in rising unemployment.
The new world of work is full of difficulties and potential problems. The high level of automation of activities raises fears of increased unemployment. However, evidence shows that such transformations are common structural changes (Vermeulen et al., 2018). Moreover, as the study of the apparel industry in South Africa demonstrates, automation not only has little impact on unemployment but, in some cases, can also increase employment (Parschau and Hauge, 2020). However, unemployment worldwide, particularly in South Africa, remains high due to the mismatch of skills that employers demand and people have (Wakefield, Yu and Swanepoel, 2022). It is critical to take measures to ensure jobs of today and future continuously have the equivalent number of employees to fill them and reduce employment.
The problem of unemployment and the need to adapt to new conditions in work require solutions to educate and attract individuals to work. The resolutions proposed so far are focused on different areas. For example, Sousa and Wilks (2018) offer a reorganisation of education systems so that students can get the skills they will need in the future. Managers of modern companies, understanding the employee skills value and the challenges of the new world of work, consider it necessary to change their human resource policy to meet employees’ needs in developing new competencies (Illanes et al., 2018). These solutions have several disadvantages – the process of changing school curricula is not as fast as world trends. Training employees by employers, in turn, is quite expensive and does not always justify the invested funds. For these reasons, it is required to consider new prospects and options.
A possible solution, which requires detailed consideration and assessment of its potential, is encouraging entrepreneurship among the population. Small and medium-sized enterprises are significant employers and provide many jobs (Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini, 2020). Furthermore, new trends, like the development of the gig economy, require individuals to maximise their cognitive and emotional abilities and manage their employment (Ashford, Caza and Reid, 2018). Entrepreneurial skills allow a person effectively make decisions, search for and use available opportunities, and be flexible in rapidly changing conditions (Sousa, 2018). Such competencies can be helpful for individuals under the circumstances of the described changes. Moreover, entrepreneurship stimulates innovation, which benefits employment opportunities (Van Roy, Vértesy and Vivarelli, 2018). Therefore, it is worth considering the development of personal entrepreneurial competencies as an opportunity to reduce unemployment and establish stability in work for individuals.
Study Objectives
Taking into account all the above and the assumption made about the impact of entrepreneurship, the study sets the following goals:
- Determine whether promoting entrepreneurship among employees can help create new jobs and reduce unemployment.
- Propose recommendations for taking measures to develop entrepreneurial skills among employees of various companies.
- Discuss whether introducing an entrepreneurial subject in schools can contribute to acquiring demanded skills.
Methods
The methodology represents a quantitative approach to data collection and analysis in the current study. Quantitative methods are focused on collecting and analysing data to determine patterns in certain phenomena (Sheppard, 2020). Within the framework of this approach, a cross-sectional study design will be relevant for the set goals. Using the survey method in cross-sectional research will help identify the causal relationships between entrepreneurial qualities and skills with success in employment and hiring of workers (Kesmodel, 2018). Given the lack of investigation of such a correlation, the selected study design and its results may lead to further, more detailed experimental research (‘Quantitative study designs: cross-sectional study’, 2021). Limitations of this method are the possibility of bias in questionnaire responses and the influence of additional variables, which highlights the importance of further studies.
The survey is possible using special platforms and created questionnaires. In this case, the involvement of participants occurs through invitations by e-mail. The sample of participants should include individuals from 25 to 50 years old – the age of the labour activity. The identified entrepreneurial qualities and competencies will serve as independent variables, and success in finding a job, the ability to hire employees, and satisfaction with activities are dependent.
Problem Statement
High unemployment rates are observed worldwide, and one of the root causes is the lack of new skills and qualities among potential employees. The problem posed by this research is the study of the possibilities of entrepreneurship in reducing unemployment. Traditionally, employers do not encourage entrepreneurship among their employees due to fear of competition or insufficient commitment. However, given the challenges of a rapidly changing world, and the need to constantly acquire new knowledge and competencies, entrepreneurial skills can be a valuable solution. Moreover, such skills will benefit individuals who prefer freelance activities and remote work.
Reference List
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Dean, B. A. and Campbell, M. (2020) ‘Reshaping work-integrated learning in a post-COVID-19 world of work’, International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 21(4), pp. 355-364.
Dondi, M. et al. (2021) Defining the skills citizens will need in the future world of work.
Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini (2020) How to prevent unemployment in a changing world of work? Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
Illanes, P. et al. (2018) Retraining and reskilling workers in the age of automation.
Kesmodel, U. S. (2018) ‘Cross‐sectional studies–what are they good for?’, Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, 97(4), pp 388-393.
Parschau, C. and Hauge, J. (2020) ‘Is automation stealing manufacturing jobs? Evidence from South Africa’s apparel industry’, Geoforum, 115, pp. 120-131.
Quantitative study designs: cross-sectional study. (2021)
Sheppard, V. (2020) Research methods for the social sciences: an introduction.
Sousa, M. J. (2018) ‘Entrepreneurship skills development in higher education courses for teams leaders’, Administrative Sciences, 8(2), pp. 1-15.
Sousa, M. J. and Wilks, D. (2018) ‘Sustainable skills for the world of work in the digital age’, Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 35(4), pp. 399-405.
Stoller, K. (2021) ‘Employees are more vital to a company’s success than shareholders, new survey finds’, Forbes.
Van Roy, V., Vértesy, D. and Vivarelli, M. (2018) ‘Technology and employment: mass unemployment or job creation? Empirical evidence from European patenting firms’, Research Policy, 47(9), pp. 1762-1776.
Vermeulen, B. et al. (2018) ‘The impact of automation on employment: just the usual structural change?’, Sustainability, 10(5), pp. 1-27.
Wakefield, H. I., Yu, D. and Swanepoel, C. (2022) ‘Revisiting transitory and chronic unemployment in South Africa’, Development Southern Africa, 39(2), pp. 87-107.