Most Millennials would gladly settle for a steady job
The survey, conducted by the Harvard University’s Institute of Politics in collaboration with the Washington Post, also shows Americans ages 18 to 29 are less than impressed with technological wonders and business giants, divided on the virtue of government regulations, and just as worried about their digital data being swallowed by tech companies as the federal government.
“As much as the older Millennials came of age in the aftermath of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the global war on terror, the younger Millennials — those represented in this survey — came of age in a time of deep economic unrest,” said John Della Volpe, director of the Harvard polling project.
The early part of their adult lives were forged by the Great Recession, and therefore when it comes to work, values such as stability, opportunity to make an impact and the ability to remain connected to friends and family are critically important.
The relatively low ambitions to start a new business follow a significant drop in entrepreneurial activity among younger Americans since 2011, according to an analysis of federal data by the nonpartisan Kauffman Foundation earlier this year.
Historical data show Hispanics are have been more apt to start new businesses each month followed by whites and African Americans.
When asked which entrepreneur they admire most — SpaceX founder Elon Musk, Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs or real estate magnate and presidential candidate Donald Trump, a 41 percent plurality choose “none of these.”
The poll found 65 percent saying they are “very” or “somewhat” concerned about technology companies collecting digital information from their computers or phones, similar to 63 percent who expressed concern about government monitoring.
The margin of sampling error for overall results is plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.