Gender Gap Persists In Teen Employment

June 18, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) Nearly 9 out of 10 teen-agers will be working this summer, and the vast majority will be earning more than the minimum wage, according to a new survey.

According to the nationwide Junior Achievement survey, 85% of students earn more than the minimum wage of $5.15 per hour. However, that’s down from the 91% in last year’s report.

A full quarter of students said they earned more than $7.51 per hour, while another say they earn between $6.01 and $7.50 per hour.

Still, girls are nearly twice as likely to earn just minimum wage as boys (64.3% to 35.7%), and much less likely to earn more than $9/hour (39% versus 61%, respectively).

Most (57%) students are working to earn spending money, but 15% are doing so to save for college.

The 2001 JA Interprise Poll on Summer Jobs was conducted in March 2001 by Junior Achievement.

An executive summary of the survey

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