156 Journal of Business Diversity Vol. 19(2) 2019 Millennials: A Generation of Un-Entrepreneurs Elisabeth M. Struckell University of North Texas Entrepreneurship has been crucial to the U.S. economy and startup rates have been in decline. The paper proposes a part of the decline is generational. Millennials are not generating startup activity at the rate of previous generations even though educational levels are at historic highs and there is a well-supported research link between education and entrepreneurial activity. The paper proposes that common characteristics of millennials and entrepreneurs are nearly exclusive. Implications of this generational skip or delay in entrepreneurship activity, including implications to higher education, are discussed. INTRODUCTION The United States, with less than 5% of the world’s population, has become its strongest economy, with the highest living standards - because of its culture of entrepreneurship (Carland & Carland, 2015; Greenspan & Wooldridge, 2018; Harrison, 2013). The United States is a young country, built from a clean slate, on the backs of immigrant entrepreneurs and through multiple eras of creative destruction (Greenspan & Wooldridge, 2018; Schumpter, 1942). Entrepreneurship has been described as “the soul of the American economy” (Dearie & Geduldig, 2013). Startups, defined as businesses in operations less than one year, have historically been responsible for the majority of U.S. job creation (Long, 2016) and small businesses, including startups, have contributed over 50% of GDP (SBA.com, 2017). For several decades, and especially since the 2008 financial crisis, the rate of new business startups has plummeted (Fairlie, Morelix, Reedy, & Russell, 2015), new firm exits are exceeding new entries (Morelix, Fairlie, Reedy, & Russell, 2016) and large corporations have overtaken small firms as the majority employers and the dominant source of GDP growth (BLS.com, 2017). While startups are at an all-time low, education levels, historically linked to entrepreneurial activity, are at an all-time high. More Americans are earning degrees in every category, including high school, associate’s, bachelor’s, masters and doctorates (Rampell, 2013; Ryan & Bauman, 2016; Wilson, 2017). Attainment of a high school diploma, now 92%, has exceeded goals established by former President Obama, and bachelor’s degree attainment has climbed to 25%, among 25-29-year-olds, 37% overall (NCES, 2017). Further, access to entrepreneurship education is ubiquitous in higher education (National Survey of Entrepreneurial Education, 2014; Struckell, 2018). Prior research has supported a positive and significant link between education and entrepreneurial intent, career choice, and performance (Eesley & Roberts, 2012; Lofstrom, Bates, & Parker, 2014; Marvel, Davis, & Sproul, 2016), but a recent study exposed a paradox – how can startup activity be at an all-time low, while education levels are at an all-time high (Struckell, 2018). Increased education should be cultivating more, not less entrepreneurs and generating significantly higher levels of startup activity.