Recent surveys in Europe show that almost half of young people would prefer to work as self-employed rather than as an employee (European Commission, 2018). However, very few young people work as self-employed. In 2018, only 6.5% of young people in employment between 20 and 29 were self-employed in the EU. One of the biggest political challenges of the last decade for many Member States has been the youth unemployment crisis. In the EU, the youth unemployment rate peaked in 2013 at 23.7%, but reached much higher levels in several Member States. Furthermore, the gender gap also appears significantly among young self-employed workers.
