The Adecco Survey of School Children in Thailand for 2014

Once again, for the fifth year, Adecco Thailand has surveyed children aged 7-14 to find out what they think about their future career choices, what they would do if they became Prime Minister of Thailand, and other questions. The survey shows that becoming Doctor is still the number one job choice - for the fifth year running. The main reason being that the children want to help people and to look after their family and to make good income – expecting to earn from 10,000-1,000,000 Thai Baht. Other top 5 career choices are Soldier, Policeman, Engineer and Teacher.

Besides the top 5 careers, some children want to be a chef, while others prefer a career in  entertainment - such as a singer, musician, TV/movie star, model or presenter because those careers can bring happiness to others. Being a Programmer is also one of the popular dream careers because of the income attached and so they can work at their own time. Some children prefer different careers such as scientist, farmer, astronaut, cartoonist, illusionist, football player or badminton player. However, the percentage of children who want to be a businessman or woman this year is only 3.5% - which is much lower than the previous survey.

The answers to the question of what the best/coolest job that they can think of is can be divided into two groups. The first group has similar answers to their dream career responses. For example, one child dreams to be a musician and guitarist and is the career he thinks is the coolest. Another child dreams to be a scientist and thinks that working in NASA is the best job. The second group has different answers from their dream career. For example, one child dreams to be an architect but he thinks that being a  racing car driver is the coolest. Another child dreams to be a cartoonist, but thinks that being a President is the coolest.

The responses to the question “if you became Prime Minister of Thailand, what are the first three things you would do?” are as follow:

The survey shows that more than 94% of the children response that they prefer to spend time with their family than take the time to make more money. The main reason is that they think that family is the most important and money can be earned ‘any time’. For those who chose making money, their main reason is to earn income for taking care of their family or for a better education.

During weekend, most children spend their time taking study classes, playing VDO games, watching television and helping their parents with chores. However, how most children want to spend their leisure time is travelling with their family, playing VDO games or sports or spending time with their friends.

Most children in the survey still think that education is important and many state that next year they are looking forward to studying harder to get better and higher grades - whilst travelling is their second choice.

More than 30% of the children replied that Thailand is still their number one dream country – and where they want to live.  Other answers include Japan, United States, and the United Kingdon.

Adecco Group Thailand Regional Director – Thailand and Vietnam Khun Tidarat Kanchanawat said that “Most answers in the 2014 Children’s Survey show that the children are influenced by TV media and the political situation in Thailand during the last quarter of 2013. That means Thai children pay more attention to politic than in the past. Also, in Thailand today, there are many ‘TV talent shows’ that are an inspiration for lot of children about being a superstar – probably more than ever before.”