This article aims to consider the entrepreneurship as an occupational choice and to understand the flow among different forms of occupations. The choice of the form of professional activity depends on the perception of attractiveness of both forms, people who perceive entrepreneurial profits as more beneficial than workers’ wages more likely decide to become entrepreneurs than waged employees. However, in the presented paper, the choice is considered not only between entrepreneurship and employment but also concerns the scale of entrepreneurship. The issue of entrepreneurship as an occupational choice is presented empirically using the time series data for Poland on a quarterly basis in the years 2003-2018. The influence of the overall economic situation, which determines business opportunities and average salaries, on the choice between a proper entrepreneur, a quasi-entrepreneur and a hired worker is presented with the use of regression analysis. The results show that changes in the overall economic situation and in the level of average wages lead to flows between proper entrepreneurs and quasi-entrepreneurs, and thus, to changes in the employment structure. Improving market conditions encourage people to follow the path of proper entrepreneurship or to become hired workers, while abandoning quasi-entrepreneurship.
This paper tries to identify the main factors influencing the decisions related to occupational choices of rural youth from Cluj County, Romania, thus contributing to a better understanding of the problems and opportunities of Romanian rural communities. In order to achieve this, the results of two surveys are compared: the first one was carried out in 2007 and the second in 2011. The two surveys adopted the same methodology, thus allowing us to test the stability of the outcomes over a period of four years and highlight the main changes occurring in that period. In 2011 information was collected also regarding the current situation of young people belonging to the first generation, thus the cross-sectional analysis has been completed with a longitudinal analysis. Results show that the educational choices of rural youth from Cluj County were not essentially modified in the period 2007-2011, but there is a growing uncertainty regarding their future profession. Most of them want to work in the services sector, the preference for agriculture remaining low and there is a clear and persistent gender division among chosen professions. The main factors identified as having an influence on continuing education are: gender (more girls opting for continuing education than boys), school results and parents’ attitude towards education. Based on the conclusions of the analysis, some policy implications are also discussed.
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