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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.
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Teen enthusiasm for starting a business included an
appreciation of marketplace rigors, too. Students seem aware
of the challenges involved in starting a business. Only 11
percent of teens said such an effort would be "very easy" or
"easy," while almost half (49 percent) believed starting a
business would be "somewhat challenging."
What type of businesses do teens say they want to start? The
most popular business choices fell into a "professional
service" category (30 percent), followed by retail (27
percent). Surprisingly, restaurant or food-related businesses,
the most common source of employment for teens, accounted for
only about 13 percent of the responses. |
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"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.
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"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." |
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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 |