Why “dream jobs” matter for teenagers

May 17, 2023:

Every few years, thousands of teenagers are asked a very simple question: What job do you expect to have when you’re 30?

It’s an important question because having an answer helps teenagers plan for the future, whether that’s taking a specific class or deciding to attend college. That’s why the OECD’s PISA survey has asked this question since 2000.

But in the last 20 years, we’ve seen a concerning trend: More and more teenagers name the same basic jobs, like doctor or lawyer, almost as if they’re picking jobs out of a children’s book. And even more worrisome is that more and more teenagers don’t even name a job.

All of this hints that today’s teenagers aren’t thinking enough about their future plans — and, fair or not, this lack of career preparation will likely have lifelong consequences.

Sources and further reading:

This OECD report argues that the narrowing answers to this question hint that teens are confused about their future careers.
The PISA survey data is difficult to work with, but the codebook provides broad summaries of the data.
This study shows that students with science-related ambitions are far more likely to get science or engineering degrees, even if they aren’t as good at math.
This paper looks at the long-term ramifications of being “misaligned” as a teenager.
If you’re a solutions-oriented person, this OECD report is about what we can do to help teenagers better think about their professional futures.

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