Gender Gap In Wages For Teens

(NAPSI)-When it comes to earning money, girls may have to work harder.

A recent poll by Junior Achievement found that while most teens (eight in 10) plan to have a job, the experience may not be as financially rewarding for girls as it is for boys.

The poll found that among students older than 17, a whopping 94 percent plan to have a job while only three out of four students under the age of 15 plan to work.

However, the poll also found that a gender gap among teen pay is likely to exist.

Poll results indicate that slightly more than half of girls make less than $6 per hour at their jobs, while only 34.1 percent of boys do.

At the same time, one out of three (33.5 percent) boys said they made more than $7.51 per hour, but only 19.2 percent of girls said so.

Boys are slightly more likely to plan on working longer hours per week than girls, too. Forty percent of boys said they planned to work more than 30 hours per week, compared to only 33.1 percent for girls. Nearly one in five students plan to work more than 40 hours per week.

Types of jobs may vary this year, but are consistent with two previous polls on the same issue.

More than one out of five students will have a job in retail (21.9 percent), a figure that has not changed from last year (22 percent).

Babysitting work is expected to be the second most popular type of employment, with 17.7 percent of students planning on it. The third most popular job will be in the food industry (16.3 percent), slightly down from last year (17.4 percent).

Junior Achievement is dedicated to educating young people about business, economics and free enterprise. JA programs help prepare students for additional key economic and workforce issues they will face in the future. For more information on JA and its polls on various economic topics, visit www.ja.org; or write JA National Headquarters, One Education Way, Colorado Springs, CO 80906. You can also contact the nearest Junior Achievement office.

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