Key growth industries seen as ‘boring’ by young people

Some of the most important industries for UK growth have a long way to go to improve their image with young people, a survey of schoolchildren has shown.

Only 2.6 per cent of 14-15 year olds say they would be interested in a career in the environment sector and only 3 per cent expressed an interest in the energy sector, found the survey of 1100 pre-GCSE students by Magnified Learning. These two sectors were also among the most likely to be picked out when youngsters were asked which jobs were the most ‘boring’.

That compared to 36.7 per cent who wanted to work in the media and 34.5 per cent who wanted to work in the creative industries and the arts. The survey reveals the gap between many young people’s aspirations and the reality of the type of jobs likely to be available in the coming years as the UK economy recovers.

“The high levels of youth unemployment are alarming, but even more alarming is that our research shows that the industries in which there are likely to be jobs opening up for young people are not even being considered by them,” said Chris Horton, director of Magnified Learning. “We believe that tackling these negative perceptions is a two-way process, and it is important that industry leaders recognise their responsibility to engage with the next generation in order to foster new talent. It will be impossible for the UK economy to thrive if we can’t convince young Britons that such career paths are worth aspiring to.”

Health and social care (20.8 per cent) and sport and leisure (20.6 per cent) were the third and fourth most popular career destinations for the youngsters, while IT (18.1 per cent) and the uniformed services (15.5 per cent) also scored highly. Manufacturing and engineering (11.6 per cent) also received a moderate level of interest.

The least desired career route was public transport (1.5 per cent), while working in charities (3.2 per cent) was also viewed negatively. Public transport was also most likely to be labelled boring (23.1 per cent) with the civil service (21.7 per cent) seen as another uninteresting option.


Prem Paritosh
PGDM-3rd