Survey Says: What Do You Want to Be When You Grow up?
Good news for Japan, Inc. as most want to become a “company employee” or “salaryman.”
What’s new: The results of the 34th annual “What Do You Want to Be When You Grow up?” survey by the Dai-ichi Life Group were just released. This large Japanese life insurance company asked 3,000 elementary, middle, and high school students across the country about their future work plans. While there were some surprises, for the most part the Japanese public school system seems to be doing a good job of grooming future corporate citizens and bureaucrats. If the respondents fulfill their dreams, then the current shortage of IT engineers may be averted, and there will still be plenty of healthcare professionals and teachers along with more than a few pastry chefs and pet shop trimmers.
Why it matters: While it is probably best not to read too much into the results, as a long-term resident of Japan from America, I could not help but contrast the outcome with how I would anticipate American children would respond. The results—especially based upon the responses from high school students—scream out for a desire for stability. Are there no aspiring entrepreneurs who are willing to risk it all for a chance at success? While it is encouraging to see how the occupation of YouTuber and video game creator ranked highly—especially among elementary school age children--it is a little disappointing to notice how such dreams seem to be replaced by the less risky choices of company employee and bureaucrat by the time students reach high school.
By the numbers: The top ten occupations were ranked by both gender and age. Follow the color coding to track how the most common occupations move up or down among the rankings.
While the #1 ranking among boys of “company employee” is a little perplexing, some of the other common votes among both genders are not surprising. I would expect to see plenty of aspiring professional baseball and soccer players among 1st through 6th grade boys. In my own country of America, this group would be joined by would-be professional football and basketball players.
It is, moreover, not all that remarkable to see the timeless popularity of healthcare professionals and teachers.
At least at the elementary school level, there seem to be plenty of creative students who yearn to for a career online either as a YouTuber or video game creator.
Among Japanese girls, this creative ethos extends into the kitchen and in the booming field of manga and anime illustration.
By the time children reach middle school, Japan Inc. and its supporting government bureaucracy have, however, somehow taken hold of young minds.
The occupation of “company employee” or “salaryman” is ranked in first place among all middle schoolers.
An encouraging sign is that by this stage more girls have gained an interest in the field of IT engineering.
A relative newcomer—at least compared to surveys conducted in prior years—is the occupation of scholar / researcher.
By the time students reach high school it appears that a large portion (more than 1/3 of the boys and approximately 1/4 of the girls) plan to work either for a company or the government.
To learn more about why so many students intend to work for a company upon graduation from college, the Dai-ichi Life Group probed a bit deeper to find out which industries are the most popular among those respondents.
The results indicate the popularity of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) curricula.
Japan’s long-dominant trading firms must, moreover, be doing something right, too.
“I want to gain experience in a trading company and work overseas!” – One high school student
It seems that this career choice is considered be a ticket to an exciting life abroad.
Between the lines: Now don’t get me wrong. There is nothing bad about aspiring to work for a company or helping one’s fellow citizens at city hall. That said, some sort of a transformation during middle and/or high school must be taking place to cause Japanese students to give up on the wishful thinking of elementary school.
While healthcare related professions have always ranked highly, it is believed that the ongoing Covid-19 global pandemic may have caused more students to aspire to become doctors, nurses, and pharmacists.
Especially compared to the U.S, one positive result may be the fact that the occupation of lawyer got very few votes, which may not be a bad thing. Just kidding! Every advanced economy needs plenty of lawyers, too—maybe just not as many as there are in the U.S.
What’s next: Dai-ichi Group Life will, no doubt, continue to conduct this survey indefinitely into the future. While the jobs of “company employee” and “bureaucrat” are likely to retain their top-ranked positions, some of the company’s researchers anticipate that the effect of the current AI and machine learning boom is likely to influence the results of future surveys.
Note: The Japanese life insurance company Dai-Ichi Group Life has been conducting their “What I want to Be When I Grow up” survey since 1989. In December 2022 Cross Marketing, Inc. interviewed 3,000 subjects from grades 1 ~ 12, and the results were published on March 16, 2023. Beginning in 2020 (32nd annual survey) the results were collected on-line due to the Covid-19 global pandemic.
Link to Japanese Source: https://www.dai-ichi-life.co.jp/company/news/pdf/2022_071.pdf
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I am not surprised by these results. Japanese culture has long encouraged valuing group thinking for the good of all. Americans value individualism and are inspired by entrepreneurship. Of course exceptions to the norm exist in both cultures.
Pam Baran
Nothing new here. I was gobsmacked by this phenomenon when i came here and started teaching back in 2001. I was also shocked to discover that, among my junior high and high school students, sleeping was a very popular hobby. This society kills children's motivation and that is among the myriad reasons why I cant have our daughter here beyond elementary school. That being said, having been born in San Francisco in 2019, I couldn't have her spend her formative years in America either. Hence our return to Japan when she was a year and a half old. But its most definitely back to the US after elementary school.