Craig Daily Press

Saving for college tops list for teens

With gas prices near record levels and costly college tuition bills looming, teens are pounding the hot pavement to find employment.

According to the 2007 Junior Achievement World--wide "Teens and Summer Jobs Interprise Poll," 73.4 percent of teens who took the online poll plan to work this summer.

The top two reasons why teens plan to work are "extra spending money" (29.5 percent) and "saving for college" (28.9 percent). Girls indicated helping to pay for college is the top reason they plan to work this summer (31.8 percent), continuing a three-year trend. For boys, extra spending money is the primary motivation (32.8 percent) for getting a summer job.

Among teens 17-and-older, saving for college is the primary motivation for working: 31.6 percent of 17-year-olds, and 40.9 percent of teens 18 and 19, reported saving for college was their No. 1 reason for working during the summer.

More than one-third (34.2 percent) of teens who plan to work this summer indicated that they will seek retail or restaurant jobs.

While there may be a perception that teens work because they have to, not because they want to, key findings of the JA Worldwide poll indicated teens are getting more from their jobs than just a paycheck. When asked to select from a list of "lessons learned" from their summer jobs, 38.2 percent of teens perceived that the most important was "responsibility."

"How to demonstrate leadership" (23.4 percent) was second, followed by the "importance of teamwork" (18.2 percent). And, perhaps the most gratifying finding for hard-working fast-food restaurant managers is that for teens who held summer jobs in 2006, nearly three-quarters -- 72.8 percent -- actually perceived their bosses as career mentors.

"Working during the summer -- whether in an entry-level position, babysitting or providing lawn care services -- reinforces the concepts taught by JA Worldwide programs: the importance of punctuality, teamwork, and a good work ethic," said Darrell A. Luzzo, senior vice president of education and strategic partnerships at JA Worldwide. "Additionally, teens benefit from receiving career mentoring from their bosses, which helps create a generation of work-ready employees who understand the importance of strong interpersonal skills and who are ready to actively contribute in the workplace."

This is the eighth time the "JA Worldwide Teens and Summer Jobs" poll has been conducted, and 818 students voluntarily participated. The poll was administered online between March and April of 2007.

JA Offices requested participation from area students, many of whom were not involved in JA programs.

Because the respondents were not randomly selected, no margin of error for this report can be calculated. The survey results cannot be represented as a scientific cross-section of American students between the ages of 13 and 18.