Korean kids' future career choices are athletes, teachers, YouTubers

A survey revealed that the number of middle and high school students who opted for computer engineers and software developers as their future career paths increased from the previous year. Meanwhile, government officials who had been in the top ranks for many years have fallen in popularity.

The Ministry of Education and the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education & Training said on Monday the current status of elementary and secondary career education, which comprised a survey of 22,702 students in the 6th grade of elementary school, the 3rd grade of middle school, and the 2nd grade of high school from June to July this year.

As a result of the survey, the first place on the list of most desired jobs for elementary school children was athlete, followed by teachers and YouTube creators. The YouTube creator job was ranked 4th in 2020 and 2021, but it pushed aside the doctor job this year and rose to 3rd place.

Among middle school students, teachers ranked first, followed by doctors and athletes. High school students picked teachers as the No. 1 job, followed by nurses and soldiers.

In this year's survey, it was noteworthy that the number of students who opted for jobs in computer science and information technology, such as programming, has increased.

Computer engineers and software developers, which were ranked 10th in 2020 and 8th in 2021 in middle school students' future career options, jumped to 5th this year. It also ranked 5th for the second consecutive year on the list of high school students' most desired jobs.

Meanwhile, the ranks of government officials were down substantially. Government office workers were ranked 7th in 2020 and 6th in 2021 in middle school students' most desired job list, but they ranked 10th this year. It also fell from 6th place in 2021 to 11th place this year in the high school students' most coveted job list.

Write to Man-Su Choe at bebop@hankyung.com