Egyptian Youths and Economic Responsibility : Opportunities and Challenges A Field Study

The main objective of this study is to know the attitudes of the Egyptian youths towards their economic responsibility and their planning of their practical future in order to encounter the challenges of the global capitalist system and its impact on the available opportunities in the labor market. The study aims at identifying the attitudes of the youths towards planning their practical future, revealing the types of the best "Self- employment", and identifying the new labor market mechanisms available to them. It also aims at identifying the kinds of micro enterprises they prefer, and detecting the obstacles which encounter them. The study tried to provide a futuristic vision to implement "micro-Enterprises". The study is based on the social survey method applied to a sample of 142 students from eleven governmental universities representing the rural sector and the urban one in the Egyptian society. The study also uses the comparative method in displaying and analyzing the data according to the class differences and the rural/urban differences using SPSS. The data were collected using a questionnaire, an attitudes scale and group interviews. In explaining their findings, the study depends on the "world system" perspective and the "human capital". The field study has disclosed two dimensions responsible either for encouraging the youth into the labor market or preventing them from undertaking their economic responsibility; the available opportunities, and the challenges and risks. The findings show the young people's awareness of the free labor market mechanisms. In addition, the findings show the young people's choice of two types of enterprises; a national productive type and a western consumptive one.