Hendrik Denjs works as a teller at BizTown's KeyBank on April 20, 2026, in Portland, Ore. The program, organized by nonprofit Junior Achievement, is an interactive simulation where 4th through 6th graders are assigned jobs and earn money in a fictional town for a day.
Saskia Hatvany / OPB
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are nearly 170 million employed civilians in the American workforce.
However, that number may be an undercount because it does not include kids working at BizTown.
Junior Achievement’s BizTown gives kids in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade the chance to experience working in a simulated city in various fields, including healthcare, construction, food service, journalism, banking and more.
Kids are given jobs based on interviews they’ve done and BizTown money to purchase various goods and services in their make-believe city.
Host Dave Miller and producer Rolie Hernandez spent a day at Biztown recently, talking to students at Boring’s Hood View Adventist School and Vancouver’s Columbia Valley Elementary to find out what a day of adulthood was like for students.
They also spoke to the actual adult responsible for the exercise: Barbara Smith, CEO of Junior Achievement’s BizTown.
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