If the results of a new survey from Junior Achievement are correct, the youth of today may be losing hope in entrepreneurship as a career path. From Independent Street:
A poll released yesterday by Junior Achievement USA, a Colorado Springs, Colo., organization that hosts after-school programs for youth, found that fewer teens surveyed were interested in eventually starting their own businesses than just a year earlier. It found 60% of the 712 13- to 18-year-olds surveyed indicated they’d be interested in becoming entrepreneurs, compared with 67% in 2007.
While this percent is still very high historically speaking, the downward trend is alarming. Entrepreneurship is the hope for our future growth and we need this generation to be ready to lead the way.
Jeff,
An interesting post, and I certainly agree with you that entrepreneurship is the key to our future growth, both here in the US and worldwide.
In reference to this survey, is there any data related to how many people end up starting their own business over the course of their life? Or that connects a teen-aged interest in a particular career with ultimate success in that career? Certainly, not every teenager who wants to be a doctor or a veterinarian ends up in those careers.
Also, there is no mention of the margin of error in this survey. It was done online (a self-selected group — always has a huge margin of error) and the number of teens in survey was relatively small. I would bet that the difference between 67% last year and 60% this year is well within the margin of error, which means that you really can’t draw any conclusions about upward or downward trends.
You raise good points about this study.
We have seen a steady trend upward of young people who want to pursue an entrepreneurial career. When I got back into teaching 12 years ago the generally accepted percent was about 40%. When I came to Belmont five years ago it had risen to over 50%.
There are some studies that show the percent of people who start a business, but their intent is not known. Many, as we see today, are accidental entrepreneurs who have to try to start a business because of employment issues.
Start-up rates have increased by a factor of about 5-6 times the number we saw a few decades ago. If those rates start to drop we are in trouble, as small businesses have generated 78% of all new jobs in the US over the past 20 years.
I will say that we have not seen a downward trend in Entrepreneurship majors across the country as of this point in time.
Let’s hope that this change is in the margin of error, and interest and intent are still strong.
Interesting article…. I dont know what it is about the youth today. I hang out at a local boys and girls club where they have a skatepark and have become friends with a lot of the younger kids.
Im only 24 so i feel like they relate to me more but it makes me sad to see some of the hardships these kids deal with. I deal with a lot of kids from broken homes and have no dreams. these are mostly poor kids, i wonder what the demographic was like where they surveyed, and if it would make a difference.