Entrepreneurial Skills and Wage Employment

Promotion of entrepreneurial skills among the population is often considered as an adequate policy to enhance job creation and economic growth. However, neither the definition of entrepreneurial skills, nor the costs and benefits of such a policy are clear. Our aim is to check whether the benefits of entrepreneurial skills extent beyond self-employment. We use a sample of higher education graduates from Spain, from the year 2000 interviewed in 2005 (REFLEX survey). We denote entrepreneurial skills as those competencies that enhance the likelihood of self-employment. Then we analyze whether they are rewarded in wage employment. We find that alertness to new opportunities, ability to mobilize others and knowledge of other fields are the competencies that enhance self-employment in Spain. Yet, these skills are not rewarded in a salaried job. Therefore, benefits of policies fostering entrepreneurial skills do not extend to wage employment in Spain.