Millennials happy with Joe Hockey’s ‘Mark Zuckerberg’ budget, survey finds

IT’S not just small business — and big retailers — who are happy about Joe Hockey’s second budget. The Treasurer has won over a surprising group.

Young people appear to be the most optimistic about Joe Hockey’s small business budget.

IT’S not just small business — and big retailers — who are over the moon about Joe Hockey’s second budget. The Treasurer has won over a surprising group: Gen Ys.

New research into Australians’ perception of the federal budget shows millennials have the most faith in the budget measures and are the most positive out of all age groups.

According to market research company Social Soup, which polled more than 1000 Australians, it’s down to something called the Mark Zuckerberg Effect.

“Young people see there’s this opportunity now, they hope they too can start their own business and see rapid success just like Mark Zuckerberg,” said Social Soup founder Sharyn Smith.

The survey found 44 per cent of millennials think the budget is responsible, versus 36 per cent for older age groups. Thirty-one per cent of young people said the budget would positively impact their future versus only 11 per cent for those in their 40s, while half said this year’s budget makes up for last year, compared with 37 per cent for older groups.

One survey respondent said: “Small business benefiting in this budget gives people like myself the confidence to start up a business sooner rather than later, which I plan to do.”

Young people who already own a small business were the most optimistic, with 82 per cent saying the budget measures would help their business grow. Nearly nine in 10 (87 per cent) expected to claim the $20,000 tax break.

Unsurprisingly, however, 55 per cent of millennials said the ‘Netflix tax’, which will see consumers pay more for so-called ‘intangibles’ purchased through online services such as Netflix and iTunes, was unfair.

Overall, the reaction to the budget was “moderately positive”, with 44 per cent saying the government had done a good job selling the message this year compared with just 11 per cent last year. It was also rated three times ‘fairer’ than last year’s budget.

Ms Smith, whose company is usually involved in new product launches and market research for major brands including Optus, Fitness First and Coca-Cola, said assessing the sales job of the government was a key measure of the budget’s success.

“It’s the biggest product launch of the year,” she said. This year’s budget got a star rating of 2.8 out of five. “For successful product launches we would normally be looking closer to a four.”

The least positive group was stay-at-home mums, with just 17 per cent saying this year’s budget gave them confidence in the future. “They were the only group who scored the budget lower on in all areas,” Ms Smith said.

Each age group also had different concerns around what they felt was ignored in the budget. “For over-30s, it was investment in education; for older Australians it was mental health funding; and for millennials, it was violence against women.”

The budget didn’t inspire confidence in the broader population, however, with 77 per cent saying it won’t make a difference to how they feel about the future.

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Originally published as Millennials happy with Joe Hockey’s ‘Mark Zuckerberg’ budget, survey finds