Youth and entrepreneurship: discourses, public policy and independent work in the Argentina of Cambiemos

Abstract

In recent years, entrepreneurship has been presented as a solution to the unemployment problem, as an expression of neoliberal rationality and as part of a discourse of the time. This term refers to any attempt at independent economic activity, new business or the expansion of an existing one, either by an individual or a team of people. In Argentina it became particularly relevant through the Cambiemos government (2015-2019), where it was made explicit as part of the government agenda. In the course of that presidential period, entrepreneurial discourse was particularly directed at those with the highest unemployment rate: young people. The ideal of a young entrepreneur, who self-generates his incorporation into the labor market and therefore his own economic income, was multiplied in government speeches, international organizations, the media and public policies. In this article we propose to analyze the entrepreneurship of young people (15 to 29 years old) during the government of Cambiemos, based on the analysis of government discourse and various policies implemented, which we will contrast with data from the Permanent Household Survey (EPH -INDEC) corresponding to the year 2017. Our hypothesis is that, due to the characteristics of self-employment in Argentina, the entrepreneurship discourse far from being a solution to employment problems, and specifically to high unemployment rates youth, legitimizes social inequalities. The results found allow us to argue that among young people, being an entrepreneur has very heterogeneous meanings, depending on their place in the social structure. The illusion of being entrepreneurs of themselves under the myth of equal opportunities confronts the inequality of positions of young workers, which contributes to naturalizing the place they occupy in the social structure.