Teens Believe Owning Your Own Business Provides Greater Job Security

Junior Achievement Teen Poll Also Finds White Students Less Likely to Want to Start a Business Than African-American, Hispanic, or Asian-American Students

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Sept. 18: More teens (41 percent) believe "owning your own business" provides greater job security than "working for a company" (32 percent), according to results from the 2003 JA Interprise Poll on Teens and Entrepreneurship. The rest (27 percent) said they were "not sure," according to the survey recently administered by Junior Achievement to 1,101 teens between the ages of 13 and 18.

Nearly three quarters of teens (75 percent) indicated that they would like to start their own business someday.
 

"This poll shows that today's teens have a great deal of confidence in the power of striking out on their own," said Jack Faris, president of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). "We should all do our part to keep this going by encouraging the next generation of business owners, which is the focus of the NFIB Education Foundation." TOP

Additionally, the poll indicates a greater percentage of Asian/Pacific Islanders (89 percent) and African-American teens (86 percent) expressed a desire to start their own business one day than did Hispanic/Latino (79 percent) or white (69 percent) teens. Overall, more boys (80 percent) expressed a desire to start a business than girls (71 percent).

Some teens, however, aren't waiting to start their own businesses.
 

See What Today's Teens Think About: The Job Market Teens & Money Careers From JA Polls

"My business is growing every day, and is still true to one of its original goals: to show that kids can make a difference in the business world," said Rohan Singh, 15, founder of Fuzzelfish.com and Junior Achievement's first-ever National Student Entrepreneur of the Year. "In a free market system, children ... can make a positive difference, like adults. I hope to one day go public on NASDAQ."

Singh was selected out of a field of Junior Achievement students from across the country by the Young Entrepreneur Organization. A high school student from Woodinville, Washington, Singh used $60 to establish FuzzelFish.com in 2002 -- a business that sells software products to assist Internet developers in creating Web sites.

As the National Student Entrepreneur of the Year, Singh was in Washington, D.C. yesterday to meet with lawmakers from the state of Washington, as well as senior executives from NASDAQ. Rohan will also receive a $1,000 stipend from the NASDAQ Education Foundation. TOP

The 2003 Junior Achievement Interprise Poll(TM) on Entrepreneurship was conducted online by Junior Achievement last spring. A total of 1,101 students participated. The poll data echoed, in part, the results of an earlier survey called the JA Interprise Poll on Kids and Careers, conducted in October 2002. In that poll, "businessperson" was named the top career choice. Doctor had been the top choice in the three previous years.
 

About Junior Achievement

Junior Achievement is the world's largest organization dedicated to educating young people about business, economics and free enterprise. Through a dedicated volunteer network, JA offers in-school and after-school programs for students in grades K-12. JA programs focus on seven key content areas: business, citizenship, economics, entrepreneurship, ethics/character, financial literacy, and career development. Today nearly 150 JA offices reach more than four million students nationwide. Through its international operation, JA reaches another two million students in more than 100 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.ja.org .

Source: Junior Achievement