Recent GENERATION study asked 15-year-old school students across Australia to report on their occupational aspirations. Most Year 10 students expect a professional occupation at age 30. Among professional occupations, females preferred the ‘health’ sector while ‘design, engineering, science, and transportation’ sector was more popular among males and non-binary students.
About 18% of Year 10 students expected to be a ‘Health Professional’ at age 30, with this being the most popular choice of profession.
Among males, ‘Design, Engineering, Science, and Transportation’ was the most popular career choice (21%) at age 15.
Among females, ‘Health Professionals’ was the most popular career choice (25%) at age 15.
Among non-binary students, ‘Design, Engineering, Science, and Transportation’ was the most popular career choice (28%) at age 15.
Year 10 students were asked the following question: ‘What kind of job or occupation do you expect to have when you are about 30 years old?’ The most popular occupational categories were ‘Health Professionals’, ‘Design, Engineering, Science and Transport Professionals’, ‘Legal, Social and Welfare Professionals’, ‘Education Professionals’, and ‘Arts and Media Professionals’. Overall, these top categories fall under the broad category of ‘Professionals’ –making it the most popular career choice in 2022. These professions, which the upcoming generation of Australians aspire, align with current skilled shortages in the Australian economy and the most in demand jobs for skilled migration to Australia.
Although a majority of GENERATION respondents reported a professional occupation as their future career choice, there were some gender differences in the choice of sub-major category of the occupational pathway. Broadly, males were more interested in IT, transportation, and trade-related professions, whereas most females chose health, legal and educational professions. Non-binary students were interested in art, media, legal and social professions.