Ramp up entrepreneurship education, training:
"California's unemployment rate is now officially 12.5 percent, but the real unemployment rate, including discouraged and part-time workers who want full-time jobs, is more than 20 percent. Members of the California Association for Micro Enterprise Opportunity report that in African American and Latino populations, the rate is closer to 30 percent. Where are the jobs, and how do we train and educate for them?"
We believe that self-employment and micro-business is the labor trend of the future.
Data from the Small Business Administration show that rates of self-employment increased by 8 percent over each of the past two years - up from 4 percent per year during the previous five years. As in any downturn, many people turn to self-employment to supplement family income; they sharpen their skills, they network, they take risks and they pursue a dream of self-sufficiency.
For those with financial and emotional support networks, as well as the drive to succeed, the entrepreneurial path is a viable option and a positive alternative to job training. We believe that 5 percent of our state's unemployed are entrepreneurial in nature and could be successfully self-employed if supported with the tools, training and education.
California has an important infrastructure of nonprofit organizations that focus on micro-business development. These organizations provide services ranging from technical assistance to financing for California's micro-businesses (businesses that have five or fewer employees and are capitalized with $35,000 or less). Micro-businesses start small but can grow to be large enterprises.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/22/IN2H1ALDO1.DTL#ixzz0XavX6xQ7
"California's unemployment rate is now officially 12.5 percent, but the real unemployment rate, including discouraged and part-time workers who want full-time jobs, is more than 20 percent. Members of the California Association for Micro Enterprise Opportunity report that in African American and Latino populations, the rate is closer to 30 percent. Where are the jobs, and how do we train and educate for them?"
We believe that self-employment and micro-business is the labor trend of the future.
Data from the Small Business Administration show that rates of self-employment increased by 8 percent over each of the past two years - up from 4 percent per year during the previous five years. As in any downturn, many people turn to self-employment to supplement family income; they sharpen their skills, they network, they take risks and they pursue a dream of self-sufficiency.
For those with financial and emotional support networks, as well as the drive to succeed, the entrepreneurial path is a viable option and a positive alternative to job training. We believe that 5 percent of our state's unemployed are entrepreneurial in nature and could be successfully self-employed if supported with the tools, training and education.
California has an important infrastructure of nonprofit organizations that focus on micro-business development. These organizations provide services ranging from technical assistance to financing for California's micro-businesses (businesses that have five or fewer employees and are capitalized with $35,000 or less). Micro-businesses start small but can grow to be large enterprises.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/22/IN2H1ALDO1.DTL#ixzz0XavX6xQ7