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Teens Less Interested In Starting Business, Survey Shows

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By MICHELE SAGER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 18, 2008

TAMPA - The struggling economy has students thinking twice about their career paths.

Teens are less interested in starting a business thanks to a rocky economy, according to a poll by Junior Achievement. And local educators are seeing a change in some course selections because of career fears.

Junior Achievement polled teens across the country and found 60 percent were interested in starting a business. That's down 7 percentage points from the previous year.

The group, which prepares students for the business world, found the economy was a major factor. Teens cited "unemployment," "possibility of recession" and "the federal budget deficit" as the top threats in the economy. But 53 percent did predict they would be better off financially than their parents.

With the national unemployment rate at 6.5 percent, independent-minded teens who were interested in starting a business cited "earn more money" and "I don't want to work for someone else" as the top reasons why they would be interested in starting a business.

Tony Colucci, principal for Bowers/Whitley Career Center, an alternative-education high school in Tampa, said he released one of his construction teachers because student demand dropped.

"Kids were watching their parents in construction get laid off because of the housing crisis and decided they didn't want any part of it," Colucci said. "We're trying to stress to the students that the economy will bounce back, hopefully by the time many of them enter the workforce."

Colucci said most career courses like auto mechanics and cosmetology still have strong enrollment.

Even younger children have an increased awareness of the economy, according to Maggie Haley, director of Tampa's Junior Achievement BizTown. At BizTown, fifth-graders run mock businesses and learn about enterprise while working in a business village.

"Ever since the election, the kids do seem to be more aware of what's going on," Haley said. "They are more aware of what things cost, and students seem to be saving more of their money in savings accounts during their day here."

The Junior Achievement survey was taken in February and March, prior to the recent economic crisis, but concurrent with the fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis and tightening credit by financial institutions.

Reporter Michele Sager can be reached at (813) 865-1523.

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