Generations: A Scoop of Gen. Y’s Economy
By Mohamed Karrem
Why do most Millennials prefer entrepreneurship over a job?
Millennials and Gen Xers weren’t alike in some ways, such as what is the main aspect that contributed to the build-up of their mentalities.
So, you will notice that the political aspect played a big role in Gen Xer’s life, and the economy was the ultimate influencer to most of the Millennials, therefore we are going to breakdown some of the big economic events that shaped the Millennials mentalities.
Growing up with too much economy
The fear for an extension of the economic crisis that became obvious at the beginning of the 80s determined that the management bodies would decide the return to the planning system by elaborating five-year plans as main instruments for the national productivity growth. The GDP growth during this five-year plan did not succeed in decreasing the crisis extension, and the external debt burden that reached $32.5 billion in 1986.
Also the chronic budget deficit and rising external balance of payments, deficit represents good proof. We can estimate that the economic development during the 80s was less favorable than the one during the 70s, revealing the economic and financial problems that were easily hidden during the previous period.
Why Millenials’ “earning to spend”?
Surprisingly, people had changed their expenditure behavior at this time, they noticed that it was pointless to save money in such uncertain days, which, established a new concept of “earning to spend.” The most serious problem, as we underlined earlier, was the external debt rise, which caused a huge depreciation in our currency, and affected our exports and the country’s credibility.
Privatization of the Public Sector and the Restructuring of Enterprises was the ultimate solution from Mubarak’s regime, besides a series of International Monetary Fund arrangements, coupled with massive external debt relief resulting from Egypt’s participation in the Gulf War coalition, helped Egypt improve its macroeconomic performance.
Businessmen are Millennials’ Role Models
In conclusion, the regime was afraid of the upcoming financial crisis and the unseen future which led them to initiate a program to reform the Egyptian economy and avoid predictable threats, but the side effects of the economic reforms were too much to bear for most of the Egyptians citizens.
One of the unforgettable consequences of the Mubarak regime’s program, was when he imprisoned Ahmed El-Rayan, the smartest businessman who had been chosen by the American banks to guarantee the maize trade imports instead of the Egyptian banks. Certainly, the government felt insulted, which left them with the only solution they know.
You can tell that most of the millennials prefer to start their own business rather than finding a job, and it actually makes perfect sense for a generation of narcissists to become too entrepreneurial.
