How "Entrepreneurial" is America's Workforce? June 11, 2009
A new report from the Junior Achievement Innovation Initiative (JAII) and Gallup shows that employers (those responsible for hiring decisions) and employees alike believe America's workforce needs to become more "entrepreneurial" for the country to remain competitive in the global marketplace, and that K-12 classrooms are the place to start teaching entrepreneurship.
The Gallup poll of 1,100 employers and employees shows that virtually all those surveyed (95 percent of employers; 96 percent of employees) believe the American workforce needs to become more entrepreneurial if America is to remain competitive (entrepreneurship was defined as "taking the initiative and assuming risk to create value for the company or business, either as an owner of your own business or in your place of work."). Nearly half of employees (46 percent) and employers (41 percent) felt the best time to learn entrepreneurship is in the K-12 grades, surpassing college (employees 25 percent; employers 32 percent) and "on the job" (employees 17 percent; employers 16 percent). Only one in 10 (employees 11 percent; employers 9 percent) felt entrepreneurship is an innate skill that comes naturally.
"We began this process nearly a year ago and are frankly surprised that the employers and employees are in agreement on the value of the country having a more 'entrepreneurial workforce,'" says Jack Kosakowski, president of Junior Achievement USA, which sponsored the Gallup poll as part of its Junior Achievement Innovation Initiative. "We also could not anticipate the new Administration would be making entrepreneurship a priority as part of its agenda for education, which we believes opens the door for a new way of thinking about workforce development in this country."
To help address the question of how America's education system can change to foster a more "entrepreneurial workforce," Junior Achievement formed the Junior Achievement Innovation Initiative. The goal of the Initiative is to conduct research and then incorporate the best thinking of business leaders, workforce development organizations, and educators to develop an action plan Junior Achievement and other organizations can follow to help develop an entrepreneurial workforce. Recommended actions from this Initiative include:
• Encourage the concept of filling the "Motivation Gap" with entrepreneurial and experiential learning models that are delivered through schools.
• Use additional research to determine if the promotion of self-motivation can lead to greater demand for a more rigorous and relevant curriculum from schools.
• Help key stakeholders recognize motivation and mentorship are critical to the success of all young people.
• Recognize both hard skills and life skills are required by an individual to be become marketable and successful.
• Help young people "learn to learn" and "learn to navigate" America's existing education and workforce development systems to obtain the skills they need to succeed.
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