Young Self-employed and their Support Systems in former Communist Countries 1996-1998

The match between the circumstances of young self-employed in
post-communist countries and their support systems.
Topics: Family background; nationality status and religious
affiliation; father´s and mother´s professional status before and
after 1989; occupational status of siblings; young entrepreneurs´ own
marital status; number and age of children and type of household;
educational background; years spent into full-time education; highest
level of education they have attended; type of school and specialty;
involvement into post-compulsory education; plans for employment status
while at school and sources of career advice; sequence between education
and past and present career aims; working careers of the young
self-employed since leaving school; length of self-employment; number
and types of jobs held; economic sector of the jobs and months they were
held; length of experience of unemployment; nature and type of own
business; number of partners; number of employees; year of business
start; annual turnover of the current business and annual profit
personally received; why and how the business was started; obstacles
met; sources of assistance for the self-employed; forms of family
support; help from friends, banks, state services and voluntary
agencies; main source of capital; advice on business methods and market
information; involvement into the second economy; unofficial payments
made; protection and connections used; shares of the business in the
formal and in the second economy; personal experiences from
self-employment; advantages and disadvantages of being self-employed;
main problems encountered in developing one´s own business; changes in
the country needed so that business people have a better chance to
succeed; expectations about the future; optimism or pessimism about own
business and financial situation in ten years; wishes for the future
job status of own children; life styles of young people in business;
membership in business, political, recreational and religious
organizations; number of holidays spent away from home in the past year;
number of restaurant visits in the past four weeks; church attendance
in the past four weeks; use of motor car, satellite or cable TV,
personal computer and mobile phone; number of time for oneself, for
family and friends; number of hours of work in a typical week;
socio-political attitudes; views about gender roles; quality of family
life during the past and present regime; political preferences;
advantages and disadvantages of market economy; desired model for own
country´s development; foreign policy orientations; plans to vote in the
next election; opinions about national and local politicians; trade
unions and the church; evaluation of state and NGO programs available to
young people to start and develop their own business; scope of
activities and target groups; organizational structure; personnel;
budget of the NGO; history of the organization and plans for
development; barriers for development; partners; professional careers of
the leaders; their perceptions of young people and youth problems.