BUSINESSPERSON MOST POPULAR CAREER CHOICE AMONG TEENS, ACCORDING TO JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT POLL
At Same Time, Students Say “No Thanks” to Parents’ Careers
Colorado Springs, Colo. – Despite accounting scandals that threatened to erode public trust of major corporations, an unemployment rate that reached six percent, and an economy slow to recover from recession, nearly 1,200 teens participating in a Junior Achievement poll selected “businessperson” as their “ideal career” choice. “Doctor,” which had held the top ranking since the JA Interprise PollÔ was introduced three years ago was narrowly edged out by teens wanting to open restaurants, own clubs, or rise to CEO of America’s largest corporations. “Teacher” was tied with “lawyer” as the third most desired career.
However, the effect of today’s stagnant economy was not lost on students. Expectations for teens’ annual salary by age 40 are at the lowest levels since the poll’s inception. Last year, 14 percent of students believed they would make $1 million in annual salary by age 40, compared to only nine percent this year.
A comparison by gender reveals that girls may be more realistic about the possibility of high earning power. In six of the top seven career choices, boys were more likely than girls to believe they would make $250,000 or more annually by age 40.
Although parents may influence the direction of their children’s job aspirations, 76 percent of students said they did not want to follow the career path of either parent. Those students who did wish to pursue a parent’s career tended to be gender biased; male teens wanted to follow their father’s occupation while female students were much more likely to show interest in their mother’s vocation.
Students also seem to make a strong connection between education and success. Nearly three-quarters of respondents indicated that a four-year college degree or graduate education was essential to obtaining a career characterized as “ideal.” Students are highly optimistic about obtaining their ideal career, with more than one-third of respondents saying they would “definitely” have it someday.
Teens will have a chance to learn more about possible careers during the upcoming Groundhog Job Shadow Day. Sponsored by Monster, the National Job Shadow Day Coalition aims to further student career exploration by pairing young people with on-the-job “hosts” in various workplaces. The effort kicks off on January 31, 2003, or Groundhog Job Shadow Day. Last year, more than one million students were able to visit more than 100,000 workplaces throughout the nation. The coalition includes America's Promise – The Alliance for Youth, the U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of Education, and Junior Achievement.
The 2003 JA Interprise PollÔ on Kids and Careers was administered to students ages 13 to 18 in classrooms nationwide from October to November 2002. Data collection was conducted online. The poll is part of an ongoing series of polls on student views of economic issues. To read full results from the poll, visit http://studentcenter.ja.org/aspx/PeerSurveys/ or look under What’s New on www.ja.org. For more information, contact Edwin Bodensiek at 719-540-6297 or ebodensiek@ja.org.
Junior Achievement is the world's largest and fastest-growing organization dedicated to educating young people about business, economics and free enterprise. Through age-appropriate curricula, JA programs begin at the elementary school level, teaching children how they can impact the world around them as individuals, workers and consumers. JA programs continue through the middle and high school grades, preparing students for additional key economic and workforce issues they will face in the future. Today JA reaches more than four million students through 150 offices nationwide and another two million students in more than 100 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.ja.org.
JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT AND THE NASDAQ EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION LAUNCH FREE ONLINE CENTER FOR TEEN ENTREPRENEURS
Two Out of Three Students Say They Want to Someday Open Their Own Business.
Colorado Springs, Colo. - In a direct response to repeated Junior Achievement poll results indicating that an overwhelming number of students wish to someday start a business, Junior Achievement and The NASDAQ Educational Foundation have announced the launch of an online Entrepreneur Center. Available at www.ja.org, the new center is a free destination for students desiring to learn how to start, grow, and sustain a business.
Funded by a grant from the NASDAQ Educational Foundation, the online center includes a business plan-writing component from Palo Alto Software, a business toolbox from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), and related business resources from the Small Business Administration (SBA). The center will also feature a Student Entrepreneur Year of the Contest, presented by Ernst & Young and Junior Achievement, as well as monthly chats with members of the Young Entrepreneurs Organization (YEO).
According to a December 2000 JA Interprise PollÔ on Teens and Entrepreneurship, nearly eight out of 10 students say they want to one day start a business. While far fewer teens actually do so, teens are still seemingly realistic about what it takes to start one. Thirty five percent of students surveyed said that "determination and hard work" were the most critical ingredients for business success, while 18 percent said a "good product," and 17 percent said "capital."
"Junior Achievement has long taught young people about economics and the business world. Students get excited about all of the opportunity that exists for them, but have often lacked the very basic knowledge of what it takes to start a business. Our new Entrepreneur Center is the missing piece, the nuts and bolts to make it happen," said David S. Chernow, president and CEO of Junior Achievement. "We are thrilled to partner with The NASDAQ Educational Foundation to deliver such great content for our students."
Despite the economic downturn in recent years, polls conducted by Junior Achievement in classrooms nationwide continue to show a strong teen interest in starting or running a business. The most recent poll, conducted in September 2002, showed that the number one career choice among teens was "businessperson."
"The NASDAQ Educational Foundation is committed to reaching more students with a positive message of economic opportunity, and working with Junior Achievement on this project is another way for us to do that," said Alfred R. Berkeley, III, Vice Chairman, The NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. and President of The NASDAQ Educational Foundation Board. "It's great knowing that this project will give some of today's students the tools and know-how they need to start their own companies - businesses that one day could even be listed on NASDAQ."
The Entrepreneur Center is part of a new free section on www.ja.org called the Student Center. The NASDAQ Educational Foundation helped start The Entrepreneur Center with a $375,000 grant. .
About The NASDAQ Educational Foundation
In 1994, NASDAQ established The Nasdaq Stock Market Educational Foundation, Inc. to support educational projects and programs, curriculum development and research, and academic fellowships that advance financial markets literacy. Specifically, the Foundation awards grants to educational institutions and tax-exempt organizations that further its mission to "engage in and promote innovative thinking and learning about the role of capital formation and financial markets in a free enterprise system." The Nasdaq Stock Market Educational Foundation, Inc. is funded, entirely, through contributions from The Nasdaq Stock Market. The Foundation Board meets quarterly to select grantees from a pool of applicants, awarding approximately $2 million annually.
SEPTEMBER POLL SHOWS NEARLY NINE OUT OF TEN TEENS REFUSE TO WORK FOR A COMPANY ACCUSED OF UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR
Yet for First Time Business Becomes Most Popular Career Choice Among Students
Colorado Springs, Colo.— With corporate integrity, fairness, and dependability on the national agenda, students across the country are speaking their minds on business ethics. In the midst of ongoing, high-profile corporate scandals, Junior Achievement (JA) asked 1,449 students nationwide to share their thoughts on business ethics. Poll results show that nearly nine out of 10 teenagers refuse to work for a company accused of wrongdoing, while three out of four teenagers say they would not even buy a product from a company accused of wrongdoing.
The Junior Achievement poll was conducted as JA launched its new, online Business Ethics Center. The center features several activities designed to teach young people about business ethics and can be found at http://www.ja.org/ethics.
Are boys more tolerant of corporate wrongdoing? Ninety four percent of girls said they would not work for a company accused of unethical behavior, in contrast to 81 percent of boys who said the same. Mirroring a similar trend, 82 percent of girls said they would not consider buying a product from a company accused of unethical behavior, while 68 percent of boys said the same.
Still, students’ overall perception of business remains fairly healthy. Despite the recent wave of scandals, 62 percent of students said they were “just as likely” to consider a career in business, 30 percent said “less likely,” and 8 percent said it “made no difference.” Among top career choices, for the first time in the three-year history of the poll “doctor” slipped from its perch as the number one ideal career.
Only 5.2 percent of respondents said “doctor” was their ideal career choice, compared to 10 percent in previous years. The profession of “lawyer” was slightly more popular, with 5.5 percent of students saying so. By contrast, 9 percent of respondents named “businessperson” as their ideal career choice, making it the most popular answer of all.
When asked about government’s role in monitoring business, 63 percent of students said government should regulate the “same as now” or “less” (48 percent and 15 percent, respectively). Boys were more likely to favor less government regulation, with 19.4 percent of them saying so—compared to only 10 percent of girls. The belief that government should regulate business more was nearly identical between boys and girls. Students were also asked how the recent corporate scandals might have changed their opinion of business. Fifty-nine percent of respondents said the scandals made no difference, 34 percent answered “for the worse,” and 7 percent said “for the better.”
Two out of three students polled had never participated in a Junior Achievement program.
The Internet-based JA Interprise PollÔ on Business Ethics was conducted from August 20, 2002 to September 10, 2002 by Junior Achievement nationwide. It was also promoted by Terra Lycos and Angelfire.com. A total of 1,449 students participated. Based on the total sample of middle grades and high school students nationwide, the margin of sampling error is +/- 2.9 percentage points. The poll is part of an ongoing series on students’ views of economic issues.
For more information, contact Edwin Bodensiek at (719) 540-6297 or ebodensiek@ja.org, or visit the Business Ethics Center at http://www.ja.org/ethics.
Junior Achievement is the world's largest and fastest-growing organization dedicated to educating young people about business, economics and free enterprise. Through age-appropriate curricula, JA programs begin at the elementary school level, teaching children how they can impact the world around them as individuals, workers and consumers. JA programs continue through the middle and high school grades, preparing students for additional key economic and workforce issues they will face in the future. Today JA reaches more than four million students through 151 offices nationwide and nearly two million students in 113 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.ja.org.