Prices Continue to be a Concern for Teen Shoppers this Holiday Season

Survey by Junior Achievement Finds Little Change in Teens’ Perceptions of Inflation Over the Past Year

(Colorado Springs, CO) – A new survey by Junior Achievement shows that more than two-third of teens (70%) are concerned about the impact of inflation on this year’s holiday shopping season, essentially unchanged from a similar survey response last year (71%). The results are part of the JA Teens & Holiday Spending survey, which assesses teen consumer attitudes associated with the holiday shopping season. The survey of 1,004 teens between 13 and 17 was conducted by Big Village between October 8 – October 13, 2024.

"While consumer prices have stabilized over the past couple of years, the spike in inflation coming out of the pandemic is still top of mind for this generation of young shoppers," said Ed Grocholski, spokesperson for Junior Achievement USA. "To help teens better understand the causes of rising prices and how to manage in this kind of environment, Junior Achievement has many free resources available online."

JA Connect is a free resource for teens and their families. The online platform allows teens to explore how money works, the connection of education to future job and career aspirations, and even how to start a business.

Other key survey findings include:

While 74% of teens say they get holiday spending money from their parents or caregivers, 34% say they get it from a traditional job or gig job.
75% of teens plan to shop “in-store” this year, compared to 76% in 2023, with 69% also shopping online, compared to 67% in 2023.

Methodology
This Youth CARAVAN survey was conducted by Big Village among a sample of 1,004 13-17-year-olds. This survey was live on October 8 – October 13, 2024.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have volunteered to participate in online surveys and polls. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to multiple sources of error, including, but not limited to sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. It is nationally representative with set quotas based on census data. The 1,003 completes are all who qualified and completed based on the demographic quota requirements. The MoE is +/- 3.1%.

About Junior Achievement USA (JA)
Junior Achievement is the world's largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices. JA learning experiences are delivered by corporate and community volunteers and provide relevant, hands-on experiences that give students from kindergarten through high school knowledge and skills in financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship. Additionally, Junior Achievement is expanding its reach to 18-to-25-year-olds to provide young adults with critical life skills, as well as to pre-K youth to ensure children get a solid head start. Today, JA reaches more than 4.6 million students per year in 99 markets across the United States as part of 12.5 million students served by operations in more than 100 other countries worldwide. Junior Achievement USA is a member of JA Worldwide. For more information, visit www.ja.org.

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