Young people’s career aspirations - text version

The graph shows a summary of survey responses from over 40,000 students. These responses were collected over 5 surveys, at age 10/11, age 12/13, age 13/14, age 15/16 and age 17/18. 

Students were asked about their career aspirations in each survey. The graph plots the percentage of students who strongly agreed or agreed that they would consider a career in particular industries at each data collection age.

The percentages are statistically similar for each data collection age for each industry with business, technology and teaching ranking top three. Engineering and science are in the bottom two industries along with trades and hair/ beauty. 

Percentage of responses who strongly agreed/ agreed that they would like a job in each industry

• Business: 61.6 (age 12/13), 58.2 (age 13/14), 58.7 (age 15/16), 59.6 (age 17/18) 
• Technology: 41.6 (age 17/18)
• Teaching: 33.5 (age 13/14), 32.0 (age 15/16), 36.6 (age 17/18)
• Art/Design: 39.3 (age 13/14), 33.1 (age 15/16), 31.1 (age 17/18)
• Celebrity: 36.3 (age 13/14), 34.4 (age 15/16) 28.2 (age 17/18)
• Law: 30.8 (age 13/14), 30.7 (age 15/16), 27.5 (age 17/18)
• Inventor: 33.1 (age 10/11), 25.6 (age 12/13), 24.4 (age 13/14), 25.2 (age 15/16), 32.5 (age 17/18)
• Sports: 39.4 (age 12/13), 32.8 (age 13/14), 29.3 (age 15/16), 24.7 (age 17/18)
• Medicine: 26.0 (age 10/11), 35.3 (age 12/13), 32.8 (age 13/14), 31.4 (age 15/16), 21.9 (age 17/18)