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'Business' is Job of Choice for Teens
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- For the third consecutive year, teens selected a career in business as their ideal job, according to a new Junior Achievement Worldwide "Interprise Poll." "Business" occupations received 9.7% of the responses, "doctor" and "teacher" each received 6.2%, and "entertainer" received 5.7%. Owning their own business appeals to 68.4% of students, the survey found. Male students are much more inclined to be entrepreneurs (74.1%) than their female classmates (62.9%). Among ethnic groups, black students indicate a greater preference for owning their own business (79.1%) and white students show the lowest preference (63.5%). Two years ago, salary expectations for male teens in the 2003 poll exceeded female expectations for the careers of businessperson, doctor, entertainment and computer field. For these four career fields in the 2005 poll, gender-based earnings margins narrowed, disappeared, or reversed, reflecting a greater sense of potential earning power among female students. In many cases, occupational choices and earnings expectations are driven by gender. Nearly five times as many female students (9.4%) indicate that becoming some type of doctor is their ideal career compared to only 1.9% of males who provide that preference. By somewhat smaller, but still impressive margins, female students express a greater interest than their male counterparts in becoming a teacher (7.2% to 4.1%) and lawyer (5.3% to 3.1%). Given sharp distinctions in career preferences, it is not surprising that 81.2% of female students indicate a need for at least a four-year college degree for their ideal career, compared to only 73.2% of male teens. Teens will have a chance to learn more about potential careers during National Job Shadow Day, a nationwide initiative that kicks off on Feb. 2. Last year, one million students were able to visit more than 100,000 workplaces throughout the nation.JA Worldwide is the world's largest organization dedicated to educating young people about business, economics and free enterprise. Visit JA Worldwide: www.ja.org"