A new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development finds that teenagers’ career aspirations are increasingly narrow and do not necessarily align with labor market trends. The report draws on responses of students from 41 countries that participated in the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).
Respondents’ career aspirations tended to center on 10 jobs, with 53% of girls and 47% of boys expressing interest in one of these 10 jobs. In 2000, however, student aspirations were more diverse. In addition, countries with strong vocational programs tend to show more variety in students’ occupational expectations.
Jobs with a strong outlook (including likely growth, low risk of automation, and accessibility to a wide array of students) do not generally top the list of desired careers. In the United States, for example, physical therapy assistants ranked 29th on students’ aspiration lists and computer user support specialists ranked 229th.
The full report breaks down results by country and students’ socioeconomic status. It also looks at how well students’ career expectations align with their performance on the PISA exam and how participation in career counseling affects student choices.
Source: Mann, A., Denis, V, Schleicher, A., Ekhtiari, T., Liu, E., & Chambers, N. (2020). Dream jobs? Teenagers’ career aspirations and the future of work. Paris: OECD.
