Youth worker tops list of young people's aspirations

Tags: research reports

Being a youth worker is the most popular career aspiration among young unemployed people, according to a survey by the charity Rathbone.

The survey also found that the influence of TV programmes such as X Factor and celebrity gossip have minimal impact on young people's career aspirations. Seven out of 10 had no aspiration to be famous and just one of the 16- to 21-year-olds who took part wanted to be a WAG.

Paul Fletcher, Rathbone director of policy, said: "Our survey showed that far from being lazy and unrealistic, these young people were level-headed and anxious to achieve.

"At a time when we have many arts graduates but very few affordable plumbers, we need to encourage this generation to prove themselves. That might be by giving them a taste of the workplace or by offering incentives to small businesses to take on more apprentices."