ILO Working Paper 8

September / 2020

X Youth Aspirations and the Future of

Work
A Review of the Literature and
Evidence
Authors / Drew Gardiner, Micheline Goedhuys
Copyright © International Labour Organization 2020

This is an open access work distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO License (http://creativecommons.
org/licenses/by/3.0/igo). Users can reuse, share, adapt and build upon the original work, even for commercial pur-
poses, as detailed in the License. The ILO must be clearly credited as the owner of the original work. The use of the
emblem of the ILO is not permitted in connection with users’ work.

Translations – In case of a translation of this work, the following disclaimer must be added along with the attribu-
tion: This translation was not created by the International Labour Office (ILO) and should not be considered an official
ILO translation. The ILO is not responsible for the content or accuracy of this translation.

Adaptations – In case of an adaptation of this work, the following disclaimer must be added along with the attribution:
This is an adaptation of an original work by the International Labour Office (ILO). Responsibility for the views and opinions
expressed in the adaptation rests solely with the author or authors of the adaptation and are not endorsed by the ILO.

All queries on rights and licensing should be addressed to ILO Publications (Rights and Licensing), CH-1211 Geneva
22, Switzerland, or by email to rights@ilo.org.

ISBN: 978-92-2-033005-0 (print)

ISBN: 978-92-2-033004-3 (web-pdf)
ISBN: 978-92-2-033003-6 (epub)
ISBN: 978-92-2-033002-9 (mobi)
ISSN: 2708-3446

The designations employed in ILO publications, which are in conformity with United Nations practice, and the pres-
entation of material therein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the International
Labour Office concerning the legal status of any country, area or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the de-
limitation of its frontiers.

The responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles, studies and other contributions rests solely with their
authors, and publication does not constitute an endorsement by the International Labour Office of the opinions ex-
pressed in them.

Reference to names of firms and commercial products and processes does not imply their endorsement by the
International Labour Office, and any failure to mention a particular firm, commercial product or process is not a sign
of disapproval.

ILO Working Papers summarize the results of ILO research in progress, and seek to stimulate discussion of a range
of issues related to the world of work. Comments on this ILO Working Paper are welcome and can be sent to
weiss@ilo.org.

Authorization for publication: Sangheon Lee, Director, Employment Policy Department

ILO Working Papers can be found at: www.ilo.org/global/publications/working-papers

Suggested citation:
Gardiner, D., Goedhuys, M. 2020. Youth Aspirations and the Future of Work: A Review of the Literature and Evidence,
ILO Working Paper 8 (Geneva, ILO).
  ILO Working Paper 8

X About the authors

Drew Gardiner is a Youth Employment Specialist and member of the Global Technical Team of the
International Labour Organization’s Employment Policy Department. He was previously the Chief
Technical Adviser of the ILO’s “Taqeem Initiative” which undertakes impact evaluation of policies and
programmes on women’s and youth employment. He is a researcher, speaker and adviser on evi-
dence-based active labour market interventions and has mobilized and managed a portfolio of labour
market programmes related to skills, entrepreneurship and employment services across Africa and
the Middle East, working with stakeholders from the United Nations, the private sector and govern-
ment. He has a B.A. in International Relations and French from the University of Calgary and an MBA
from the University of Geneva.

Dr Micheline Goedhuys is a Senior Researcher and consultant affiliated to the United Nations University
(UNU-MERIT) and the Maastricht University in the Netherlands. She is an expert on employment, empow-
erment, entrepreneurship, SME development and growth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
region and sub-Saharan Africa and on the impact evaluation of the interventions in these regions. She
has more than 20 years’ experience as a consultant and policy adviser to governments and interna-
tional organizations on entrepreneurship and employment policy issues in Africa. As a researcher,
Micheline has published in various high-ranked, internationally peer reviewed journals, including the
Journal of Development Economics and World Development. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the
University of Leuven in Belgium and has previously held positions at the ILO in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

01
  ILO Working Paper 8

X Table of contents

About the authors   01

X 1 Introduction   05

X 2 Methodology of the study   07

X 3 The concept and determinants of aspirations   08

3.1 Understanding aspirations   08

3.2 What shapes aspirations?   09

3.3 The malleability of aspirations through policy interventions   11

X 4 Labour market challenges and youth aspirations   14

4.1 Labour markets and aspirations: conceptual framework   14

4.1.1 Dimensions of occupational aspirations   14

4.1.2 Labour markets and realistic aspirations   14

4.2 Labour market trends and their implications for aspirations    16

4.2.1 Non-standard forms of employment    16

4.2.2 Technological change and demand for work   16

4.2.3 IT-enabled opportunities and social protection   17

X 5 Measuring youth aspirations in the world of work: an overview of existing

surveys and indicators   19
5.1 Data sources: discussion of data sources, coverage, target groups   19

5.2 Indicators of work-related aspirations   21

5.2.1 The goal dimension of aspirations   22

5.2.2 Expectations   22

5.2.3 Perceptions/beliefs about technology   22

5.2.4 General perceptions/beliefs about the world   22

X 6 Youth aspirations and the world of work: Global evidence   23

6.1 Regional trends   23

6.2 Technological change and jobs   26

6.3 Aspiration gaps and aspiration failures   30

6.4 The broader set of aspirations   34

02
  ILO Working Paper 8

X 7 Conclusions and recommendations   36

7.1 Recommendations for data collection   36

7.2 Recommendations for employment policy   38

Appendix A: Overview of each survey   41

Appendix B: Examples of survey questions   50

Literature list (by section and sub-section)   55

03
  ILO Working Paper 8

X
1 Introduction

“The aspirations of young people are essential to their human capital investment, educational
choices and labour market outcomes.”

Poverty, despair and precariousness are commonly understood to deprive young people of significant
opportunities, experiences and even freedom. The effects of poverty can extend beyond economic op-
portunities and deprive young people of their aspirations and leave psychological scars. And especially
in the context of the massive current and future changes in labour markets around the world, a vitally
important question is whether it is possible to enhance the beliefs and aspirations of young people –
even those most economically marginalized – in a way that helps them overcome what life throws in
their path? The answer is that, if it is possible to influence beliefs and aspirations in such a way as to
lead to higher levels of labour market attainment, then appropriate policies can be developed.

As confirmed by recent trends analysis, young people in particular remain disadvantaged in the labour
market. The transition from school to work is increasingly difficult, with the latest data putting the glob-
al youth unemployment rate at 13.6 per cent in 2020. Three out of four young workers are employed
in the informal economy, especially in the developing parts of the world. Informal employment is one
of the main factors behind a high incidence of working poverty among young people. According to
International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates, more than a fifth of young people are not in em-
ployment, education or training, three-quarters of whom are women.

Compounding this situation is the fact that the world of work is changing rapidly, with technological
and climate change altering the conditions of production and labour markets undergoing substantial
shifts. The transformation of employment relations, expanding inequalities and economic stagnation
greatly hamper the achievement of full employment and decent work for everyone.

If young people are to benefit from the changing nature of the world of work, they need to be prepared,
both in terms of skills attainment and level of ambition and aspiration. The aspirations of young peo-
ple are essential to their human capital investment, educational choices and labour market outcomes.
When realistic aspirations combine with an individual’s sense of agency and a belief that change can
occur through their own effort, and given the pathways and tools to support achievement, success
can be the outcome.

Understanding aspirations is important when developing effective employment policies. If the career
aspirations and life goals of youth are not considered, employment policies aiming to “match” skills
with labour market opportunities may continue to fail young people.

This report was undertaken as part of the ILO Future of Work project and aims to (i) review the liter-
ature on the concepts and drivers of aspirations; (ii) develop a conceptual framework that relates la-
bour market conditions to aspirations; (iii) map the existing survey-based evidence on the aspirations
of youth worldwide; and (iv) provide insights into how to improve data collection, research and evi-
dence-based policy-making related to young persons aspirations.

In particular, the objectives of this report are to:

● review the literature discussing the concepts of aspirations, beliefs, expectations, and the relations
between them;
● understand the drivers and determinants of youth aspirations;
● provide a conceptual framework on how labour market policies and shocks affect aspirations;
● identify existing data sets and survey questions measuring aspirations and related concepts in the
world of work;
● identify gaps in the evidence and provide recommendations for future aspirations data collection;
● formulate recommendations for aspirations-sensitive employment policies.

05
  ILO Working Paper 8

This review is structured as follows: section 2 provides information on the methodologies used to identify
and select the relevant literature and data sources. Section 3 develops a theoretical framework based
on scientific studies into the concept and determinants of aspiration. Section 4 turns to the world of
work and highlights the current important challenges impacting youth aspirations worldwide. After
presenting an overview of the survey-based data sources covering youth career aspirations and relat-
ed concepts in section 5, section 6 presents key evidence of aspirations, mapping the global trends in
youth aspirations as labour markets change. Section 7 concludes with recommendations for data col-
lection and for the development of interventions that take account of aspirations in order to produce
better labour market outcomes.

This work was undertaken by a group of researchers at UNU-MERIT, Maastricht, the Netherlands, co-
ordinated by Micheline Goedhuys of UNU-MERIT and Drew Gardiner of the ILO. The researchers and
co-authors to this report include Alison Cathles, Chen Gong, Michelle González Amador and Eleonora
Nillesen. The research took place from 25 November 2018, until 30 April 2019. The review was present-
ed at ILO Geneva, on 19 April 2019, Employment Seminar Series #26 on “Aspirations and the Future of
Work: Global Evidence”.

06
  ILO Working Paper 8

X
2 Methodology of the study

The sections into which this review is divided each has its own scope and objectives and therefore dif-
ferent search techniques were applied to identify the most relevant literature. To develop the concept
of aspirations, in section 2, we first look at early academic discussion of aspirations and the economy,
and then expand on its conceptualization by revisiting classic papers in Psychology and its application
in current literature on Behavioural Economics. We further divide section 2 into subsections to facili-
tate an easy flow of ideas, from (a) the concept of aspirations (how they differ from beliefs and expec-
tations, how they might be biased and how they might fail); to (b) what shapes and drives aspirations
(poverty, policy shocks, role models, community structures and peers’ networks); and finally to (c) the
effectiveness of aspirations (results from empirical studies on aspirations and policy implications).

The papers used in this review were identified through a systematic search using Google and Google
Scholar; EBSCO (EconLit); SpringerLink; Maastricht University Library; and Elsevier for the period 1998
to 2018, as well as revisiting some classics from 1966, 1977 and 1981. The keywords used to identify
the relevant papers included, but were not limited to: aspirations, aspirations formation, aspirational
failure, aspirational bias, adolescents’ aspirations, aspirations and educational outcomes, aspirations
and labour market outcomes, occupational outcomes and choices, drivers of aspirations, role mod-
els, social interactions and aspirations, hope and aspirations, capacity to aspire, aspirations and eco-
nomic change.

For section 4, which addresses challenges in the labour market, we build on the existing reports pub-
lished by the International Labour Office, such as the World Employment and Social Outlook series, in
order to identify some of the most salient evolutions within the labour market that directly affect as-
pirations.   This is complemented by a selection of recent academic publications identified through
searches of EBSCO, Cambridge Journals, EconPapers, Google Scholar and SpringerLink for the period
2000–18. Search strings included, but were not limited to: future of work, youth labour market out-
comes, education job mismatch, labour market policy, working condition, NEET, and variants thereof,
alone and in combination with aspirations.  We imposed as an additional criteria that a paper had to
have been published in a leading journal or have been cited at least 30 times if published before 2010.
The literature sections and literature references from the studies selected were also investigated, so
as to complement the list of studies compiled with any additional relevant works we may have missed
in the systematic review.

To map aspirations and the labour market outcomes for youth (sections 5 and 6), an initial list of sur-
veys was provided by the ILO. This was then expanded in the following ways. If a report from the in-
itial list mentioned another survey or report containing data from focus groups or interviews, it was
checked and, if found to be relevant, added to the list of literature. A few other sources were identi-
fied through a systematic search in Google, Google Scholar, the Maastricht University Library (which
houses numerous databases and e-journals) and the websites of the following international organiza-
tions whose data is open to the public: Eurostat, the ILO, the OECD, UNESCO and the World Bank. The
following keywords were used: “survey”, “data”, “interview”, “focus group” plus “youth aspiration” and
variants, such as “young people”. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) was not found via this
search, but instead added because of potential indicators of interest.

We first searched the databases looking for (i) type of indicators; (ii) accessibility of indicators at coun-
try level or in a more disaggregated form, either as data or from reports; (iii) country coverage; (iv)
years covered; (v) representativeness of the underlying sample; and (vi) target group. Based on this
outcome, we extracted countries (including emerging ones, such as the BRICS countries, developed
and developing countries) and indicators (related to perceptions, aspirations and expectations, and
drivers regarding technological change, employment and education) in order to identify data trends
across different geographical regions.

07
  ILO Working Paper 8

X
3 The concept and determinants of
aspirations

X 3.1 Understanding aspirations

Aspirations are the driver of an individual’s life path and well-being. The idea that aspirations are prox-
ies for human choice and determinants of socioeconomic outcomes is not new to the social sciences.
Ever since the landmark examination of aspirations in Kurt Lewin’s Principles of Topological Psychology
(1936), social psychologists have been concerned with the concept and its effects on an individual’s ac-
tions and interactions in society. The field of sociology introduced the notion of aspirations as a deter-
minant of educational and occupational attainment as early as the 1960s. Career aspirations can drive
choices in education, job-seeking efforts and, consequently, salaries. Today, there is a renewed inter-
est in the role played by aspirations in lifetime outcomes and in how they shape social development.
Through the work of anthropologist Arjun Appadurai and economist Debraj Ray, there has been sub-
stantial research on how aspirations affect the lives of individuals and why they are at the core of efforts
at socioeconomic development. It is at the intersection between the study of aspirations and develop-
ment policy action that this analysis investigates youth aspirations within a changing world of work.

Appadurai and Ray posited the notion that aspirations are unevenly distributed across society and that
people born into poverty, among other structural disadvantages, are less likely to aspire to make signif-
icant changes in their lives. This results in low human capital investment and hinders the social mobility
efforts that policy tries to promote. Appadurai (2004) defines aspirations as a “capability”; that is, the
capacity to aspire is the ability to navigate social life and align wants, preferences, choices and calcula-
tions with the circumstances into which a person is born. However, as a navigational ability, the capacity
to aspire is not distributed evenly: individuals born into less privileged backgrounds will have a more
limited social frame within which to explore what is possible than their more privileged counterparts.

Ray (2006) has contributed to an understanding of the capacity to aspire by introducing the concept of
“aspirations failure”. For Ray, the capacity to aspire can be measured as the distance between where
you are and where you want to go. How great this distance is, the extent of the “aspiration gap”, deter-
mines whether aspirations can be a true motivator of change during the life course or whether there
is instead a likelihood of aspirations failure through a lack of capacity to aspire. If the gap is too small,
then a person will fail to aspire to significant change in their life; conversely, if the gap is too large, a
person will fail to turn aspirations into action. Moreover, setting unrealistic aspirations might decrease
the motivation to see them fulfilled. Thus, the relationship between aspiration and action is shaped
like an inverted U: aspirations that are either too low or too high will yield limited action, whereas rea-
sonable aspirations will motivate effort and produce action.

Dalton, Ghosal and Mani (2016) explained this phenomenon further by introducing aspirations failure
as a “behavioural bias”, something to which all people, regardless of background, can be susceptible.
In their view, individuals can fail to recognize the adaptive, dynamic mechanism in operation between
effort exerted and aspirations. Aspirations spur effort and motivate action, but the level of effort a per-
son chooses to exert will influence their future aspirations through realized outcomes. This dynamic
has an especially detrimental effect on individuals confronted with a tremendous number of external
constraints; for instance, only limited or non-existent material resources. Because poverty is the big-
gest external constraints, people who are poor must exert greater effort to achieve the same result as
those who are not poor. Failing to account for this susceptibility in the design of socioeconomic devel-
opment policies can result in a low take-up of opportunities or their being missed entirely.

Acknowledging the relevance of aspirations to development efforts, Lybbert and Wydick (2018) investi-
gated how aspirations can be realized and become positive outcomes. They turned to Snyder’s (2002)

08
  ILO Working Paper 8

theory of hope1 to explain how to arrive at successful aspirations. First, individuals need to set a goal
for the future (an aspired position). Second, they need to have the necessary agency to carry out the
steps required to attain that goal. Third, they need to visualize pathways to achieving that goal, such
as access to the cognitive or material tools necessary for their journey.

When what a person aspires to for the future is aligned with what they believe can be achieved, giv-
en their circumstances and through their own effort (Dalton, Ghosal and Mani, 2016; Bandura, 1993),
then aspirations become analogous to expectations and successful outcomes more likely. Therefore,
whereas aspirations afford a dimension for preferences, expectations are the product of experien-
tial perceptions, such that they become more context specific. Through this framework, the inverse
U-shaped relationship between aspirations and action propounded by Ray can be better understood
as the proposition: if aspirations that are either too low or too high discourage motivation, then there
is a peak to be found where aspirations meet expectations towards the top of the inverse U curve. By
designing policies and programmes that help recipients visualize the potential pathways to achieving
their goals, development efforts can productively mobilize the motivating power of aspirations.

In line with Appadurai’s notion that the capacity to aspire is defined by social frames, Bandura (1977)
had earlier investigated how social experiences shape how we behave in society. Social learning, either
by the setting of personal boundaries through social norms or by imitating role models, determines
how we behave and what we believe to be attainable for ourselves. Bandura introduced another com-
ponent of cognitive and social learning, namely, “self-efficacy”, or, the belief in one’s capacity to suc-
ceed in any given situation. Self-efficacy is shaped by personal experiences and an important driver of
aspirations (Bandura et al., 2003).

Bandura’s ground-breaking study of the capacity to aspire finds an echo in Amartya Sen’s “capability
approach”. Sen (1985) proposed a framework in which human development is centred on an individu-
al’s person’s capabilities and the real opportunities presented to that individual to do what they have
reason to value (Robeyns, 2016). Not unlike Appadurai’s and Ray’s conceptions of aspiration formation,
Sen posited that opportunities are not solely dependent on an individual’s choices but also on their so-
cial circumstances (Drèze and Sen, 2002). However, Sen conceived social circumstance as being what
a society could provide for its citizens in terms of structures, as opposed to the cognitive roadmap en-
visioned by Appadurai and Ray. Together, they provide a larger picture of the phenomenon: an indi-
vidual’s capacity to aspire to, say, productive work, is contingent upon their own experiences (Dalton,
Ghosal and Mani, 2016), what they learn from society and what society can provide for them. The lat-
ter two are of particular interest for policy, because they mean that work aspirations are shaped by a
person’s experience with, assessment of and expectations about the labour market institutions and
policies operative in their society.

Aspirations require further investigation, because they tell us about the well-being of individuals and
something about the cooperative nature of the recipients of development policies and social programmes.
If people believe they have the ability to bring about meaningful change in their lives through effort
(Lybbert and Wydick, 2018; Dalton, Ghosal and Mani, 2015; Bandura, 1993), and that they have the
necessary avenues and pathways to change, be it naturally through social circumstances (Ray, 2006;
Appadurai, 2004; Bandura, 1977) or by design through policy (Lybbert and Wydick, 2018), then they
are likely to accept the opportunities offered to them through policy interventions.

X 3.2 What shapes aspirations?

The empirical literature defines aspirations as forward-looking behaviour. Aspirations capture the per-
sonal desires of individuals (preferences and goals), their beliefs about the opportunities available
to them in society (opportunities and pathways) and their expectations about what can be achieved
through their own effort in an uncertain future (self-efficacy and agency)2 (Favara, 2017; Ross, 2016;

1
For Lybbert and Wydick, aspirations belong within the larger framework of “hope“, defined as a function of “aspirational
hope” (aspirations) and “wishful hope” (dreams). “Hope” is the middle ground between what is ideal and what is feasible.
2
The first term is used mainly in the aspirations literature, the second, coined by the theory of “hope” and introduced into
the aspirations literature by Lybbert and Wydick.

09
  ILO Working Paper 8

Dalton, Ghosal and Mani, 2016; Bernard et al., 2014; Bernard and Taffesse, 2014; Bernard et al., 2011).
This working definition has allowed policy and development researchers to disentangle the mecha-
nisms by which the circumstances in which we live affect aspirations formation and the extent to which
an updating of aspirations results in improved outcomes.

Through the frameworks developed by Appadurai (2004) and Ray (2006), aspirations are understood
as being socially determined: our perception of what is available to us in society is greatly influenced
by what others around us think and do. The behaviour of our immediate social network is a reference
that informs our own behaviour (Bogliacino and Ortoleva, 2013). For example, in a review of risk pref-
erences and social interactions, Trautmann and Vieider (2012) demonstrated that risk-taking behaviour
changes together with aspirations when subjects are placed into peer groups where they suddenly find
themselves at risk of losing what they have. Peer frame, or peer structure, is perceived by subjects as a
social reference point, which changes aspirations and, consequently, risk-taking behaviour and actions.
Similarly, studying a sample of Chinese workers, Knight and Gunatilaka (2012) observed their income
aspirations evolve positively over time together with those of their peer frame. Favara (2017) was able
to show that the aspirations of children and adolescents mirror those of their parents and that these
are revised over time to adapt to social expectations.

Likewise, exposure to people outside of our immediate social network can have a positive impact on
aspiration formation. With reference to Bandura, Bernard et al. (2014) discussed the relevance of role
models in the formation of an individual’s perception of what is feasible in their environment; for in-
stance, through the construction of mental models and choice sets. Role models have to be people
with whom we can identify socially and whose stories produce a vicarious experience that generates
emotions strong enough to spur a willingness in us to change our status quo. By providing new infor-
mation about what can be achieved in the circumstances we find ourselves, role models update our
beliefs and change aspirations and motivations for the better (Lybbert and Wyddick, 2018; Bernard et
al., 2014; Beaman et al., 2012; Chiapa, Garrido and Prina, 2012; Nguyen, 2008; Bandura, 1977).

Bernard et al. (2014) and Riley (2018) both tested the effect produced by the exposure of adults and
secondary school children to relatable role models and found a relationship wherein they positively
affect behaviour. For Bernard et al., adults change how they allocate time in response to aspirational
changes; for example, less leisure time means more time at work and increased investment in the ed-
ucation of children. In Riley’s study, Ugandan secondary school children performed better in a math-
ematics exam after exposure to positive role models.

If new information about what can be achieved in the system in which we live is important, so too is
our perception of that system. The study by O’Higgins and Stimolo (2015) provides an example. Using
two-shot trust games with random, anonymous matching, they were able to demonstrate that trust
is lowest when confronted by unemployment or precariousness and that it varies across job market
structures. Bernard et al. (2014) found the same phenomenon, namely, a large proportion of poor, rural
households in Ethiopia exhibited signs of holding fatalistic beliefs and having low aspirations and low
self-efficacy. Poverty, precariousness and other strenuous circumstances and their opposite, relative
richness and safe environments in which to live (Knight and Gunatilaka, 2012; Stutzer, 2004), certainly
affect the type of future-oriented behaviour we choose, through the impact they have on our percep-
tion of the choices available to us and our ability to contest or alter the circumstances in which we find
ourselves (Favara, 2017; Dalton, Ghosal and Mani, 2016; Appadurai, 2004).

Schoon and Parsons (2002) demonstrated this by looking at the effect the relevance of educational
credentials had on two different cohorts’ aspirations and adult occupational outcomes. They found
that when the socio-historical context makes academic credentials more relevant for employment, the
younger generation raises its academic aspirations and consequently has better occupational outcomes.
Echoing these results, Lowe and Krahn (2000) compared two Canadian youth cohorts and found that
occupational aspirations increased in the later cohort to match the opportunities presented by trends
in the country’s service-based economy.

Finally, some studies suggest that early interventions are desirable for raising expectations and aspi-
rations. Gorard, See and Davies (2012) documented a series of studies looking at aspirations and ex-
pectations, stability over time and effect on educational outcomes. For example, Goodman et al. (2011)
found that expectations reported at age 14 were the best predictor of the score gap between low- and
high-income students and therefore encouraged policy-makers and education workers to start raising

10
  ILO Working Paper 8

students’ aspirations as early as primary school level. Lin et al. (2009) found that expectations report-
ed in grade seven (approximately age 12) were positively correlated with academic progress in grade
eleven. In the same vein, Beal and Crocket (2010) and Liu (2009) observed self-reported aspirations
from grade seven to nine and from grade ten until the end of high school and found they remained
mostly stable and were reliable predictors of educational outcome. However, knowing that aspirations
appear to be formed during early adolescence does not preclude programmes from targeting older
youth cohorts. On the contrary, this finding suggests that aspirations are constant motivators in life
and should be approached early and continue to be engaged throughout the life course.

X 3.3 The malleability of aspirations through policy

interventions
As our understanding of aspirations in the context of policy and development improves, we see re-
search gradually turn from aspiration formation to how to increase aspirations. Natural and field ex-
periments centred on the concept of aspirations and the individual’s ability to imagine a brighter fu-
ture for themselves have important implications for policy. Mainly, they demonstrate that the success
of policy efforts can be partially secured by engaging the people who they directly affect.

Perhaps the most famous natural experiment on the topic, undertaken by Beaman et al. (2012), used
a gender quota policy in West Bengal to illustrate how exposure to positive role models raises educa-
tional and career aspirations and improves outcomes for young girls. In 1998, state policy-makers in-
troduced a gender quota for village councils. Some villages were asked to reserve at least one seat for
women, some at least two seats; other villages were asked not to reserve any seats at all. Thanks to
this design, Beaman et al. were able to study what happened to the cohorts of girls exposed to coun-
cilwomen in their villages compared to those who were not. From the time of implementation in 1998
until the first round of data collection in 2007, they observed that exposure to women role models in-
creased primarily the occupational aspirations of the adolescent girls and their parents, with fewer
parents wanting their girls to be housewives, and improved educational outcomes.

Both Chiapa et al. (2012) and García, Harker and Cuartas (2016) designed field experiments in which
they combined a social programme with exposure to career role models and social leaders. Chiapa and
co-authors observed what effect a Mexican conditional cash transfer programme, PROGRESA, had on
educational outcomes. They were able to demonstrate that PROGRESA, as a social programme, raised
the aspirations of parents for their children for at least one-third of a school year. When comparing
persons who had received the cash transfer and were exposed to health-care professionals, Chiapa
and co-authors found that educational aspirations extended for half a school year longer than it did
among those parents who had received the cash transfer but were not exposed to role models. They
also found a positive correlation between parental aspirations and students’ educational attainment
(Favara, 2017; Chiapa, Garrido and Prina, 2012).

García, Harker and Cuartas (2016) observed the effect a conditional cash transfer programme, Familias
en Acción, had on the educational aspirations of parents and adolescents. They found that the improve-
ment in educational outcomes after the transfer can be partly explained by the increase in aspirations
achieved through the exposure of beneficiary parents to social leaders and professionals who shared
with them information about local returns to education and the other benefits of schooling. Glewwe,
Ross and Wydick (2015) also found that combining a mechanism that relaxes financial constraints with
exposure to role models enhances both aspirations and educational attainment rates. Through a child
sponsorship programme, they showed that a role model’s impact is greatest in the early stage of expo-
sure. Similarly, Wydick, Glewwe and Rutledge (2013, 2017) found that a child sponsorship programme
not only increases participants’ educational attainment, but also enhances their labour market out-
comes, measured as the probability of obtaining while-collar employment in adulthood.

In another natural experiment, Kosec and Hyunjung Mo (2017) documented what happens to aspira-
tions when confronted by a natural disaster (i.e. extreme rainfall). As expected, natural disasters have
the effect of abruptly changing the perception of safety in the environment and lower aspirations.
However, they also found that government social protection programmes can blunt the negative so-
cial effect of natural catastrophes. Their study is evidence of the crucial role the state has to play in

11
  ILO Working Paper 8

first shaping and then maintaining a positive outlook on our environment and the circumstances in
which we find ourselves.

Another is the study by Ross (2016) of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) pro-
gramme in India. Initiated in 2006, the NREGA programme guarantees poor households one hundred
days of salaried, low-skill employment in any financial year, should they want it. The stability this pro-
vides raised the aspirations of parents and adolescents and is associated with higher educational at-
tainment and an increased probability of being employed full time.

Bernard et al. (2014) and Macours and Vakis (2014) designed experiments to observe the effects (i.e.
social network effects) peers have on aspirations and outcomes. The one carried out by Bernard et al.
(2014) focused on enhancing the aspirations of microcredit borrowers through exposure to role mod-
els via a video documentary. This was shown to enhance both the level of aspirations and actual, fu-
ture-oriented behaviour (such as saving, and time spent on leisure and work). Interestingly, they found
that positive peer dynamics (peers included friends, spouses, and so on) further boosted the positive
effect of the video. In their turn, Macours and Vakis (2014) chose to observe the effect of social inter-
actions on aspirations by randomly assigning leaders and beneficiaries to lending groups in a micro-
credit scheme. They found that positive peer dynamics, promoted by more optimistic group leaders,
promoted a positive outlook on the future and the probability of on-time repayment.

Judging from the insights generated by the natural and field experiments described, there seems to be
a consensus that it is possible to manipulate the conditions under which aspirations are shaped and
that the aspirations of individuals matter equally as much for successful policy and social programmes
as they do for life outcomes.3 When policies assist in aligning individuals’ educational and work aspi-
rations with the pathways to achieving them, they are more likely to be successful than when such as-
pirations are ignored. For example, programmes that provide experiential information on how to in-
tegrate into the labour market plus a financial aid scheme are more likely to elicit a positive response
from the target population than programmes that do not. Programmes tend to miss their mark when
they fail to acknowledge that resource scarcity is sometimes more than just financial but can also be a
lack of the type of social experiences that help recipients visualize the ways in which financial resources
can be put to good use. Labour market policies thus benefit from a holistic design; one that includes
role models (who generate vicarious experiences) in combination with skills development and other
career supporting interventions (e.g. financing schemes).

Based on insights from the literature and building on the conceptual framework developed by Boateng
and Löwe (2018), Figure 3.1 encapsulates the determinants of aspiration formation: lived experiences
(own and vicarious) and social context shape aspirations, both the commonly held aspirations shared
by the larger age related cohort and those of the individual embedded therein. When the aspiration
gap is too large, aspirations are no motivator of change, and there is the likelihood of aspirations frus-
tration. If the gap is too small, there will be a failure to aspire to a significant change in life. When real-
istic aspirations combine an individual’s sense of agency and belief that change can be brought about
through their own effort with the pathways and tools in support of that individual to achieve, success
can be the outcome.

3
These results are in line with educational research that falls under the umbrella term “soft skills”. Personality traits and
non-cognitive skills (soft skills), such as goals, motivation and other future-oriented behaviour, can be predictors of success
in life (Heckman and Kautz, 2012) through the effect they have on decisions about schooling and the wage reward related
to those schooling decisions (Heckman, Stixrud and Urzua, 2006).

12
   ILO Working Paper 8

X Figure 3.1: Developing and achieving aspirations

13
  ILO Working Paper 8

X
4 Labour market challenges and
youth aspirations

Career aspirations typically drive individuals’ educational and occupational choices (Duncan et al., 1968;
Ohlendorf and Kuvlesky, 1968; Kuvlesky and Bealer, 1967) and vice versa. Career aspirations are influ-
enced by the immediate social context through the own or vicarious experiences acquired from peers,
parents and successful role models (Bernard et al., 2014; Bogliacino and Ortoleva, 2013; Bandura, 1977).

In addition to financial remuneration, people aspire to various non-monetary elements related to work,
including a healthy work–life balance, social protection, career development and flexibility. Labour mar-
ket conditions and labour market trends can affect each of these components.

X 4.1 Labour markets and aspirations: conceptual framework

Career aspirations are influenced by the immediate social context, through own experiences or vicarious
experiences acquired from peers, parents and successful role models (Bernard et al; 2014; Bogliacino
and Ortoleva, 2013; Bandura, 1977).

4.1.1 Dimensions of occupational aspirations

Given the many differences in experiences, in availability of role models and in social norms and (lo-
cal) labour markets, aspirations necessarily differ considerably across and within regions and coun-
tries (across rural and urban settings), and even between individuals across the different stages in life.
Boateng and Löwe (2018) have described how in rural communities in Ghana, where the cocoa crop
is regarded as the pride of the country, cocoa farmers are the most highly respected professionals,
whereas in urban areas, respect is reserved exclusively for office workers and white-collar profession-
als. They also showed how aspirations change over the life course. They noted that most young people
earn a living from doing ad hoc jobs: “The priority for most young people is to make ends meet and to
be seen to be contributing to their immediate and extended families’ well-being and upkeep. In other
words, the earning potential of various tasks and jobs was the key consideration for most young peo-
ple.” This enables them to build up some savings in the medium term in order to raise a family. But
for the longer term, they aspired to jobs that are less physically demanding, once passed middle age
(Boateng and Löwe, 2018).

This example demonstrates that what people value about a job, and what they may realistically aspire
to in the short, medium and long term, has many dimensions. An important one – if not the most im-
portant – is the financial remuneration for the work undertaken. Earning a decent income is what en-
ables young people to develop aspirations for the longer term, such as raising a family, building up
emergency savings and supporting the family’s well-being. However, besides financial rewards, other
job characteristics and personal occupational preferences come into play: namely, the extent of social
protection, the work–life balance, job flexibility, an aspired to technical skill level and learning opportu-
nities, the presence of labour union representation, income stability and, last but not least, outspoken
preferences for work in certain sectors (public or private; wage or self-employment; agriculture, man-
ufacturing or services). What it is exactly that young people worldwide aspire to and find important in
a job is an empirical question and varies according to individual preferences and the socio-economic
and institutional environments in which they live. 

4.1.2 Labour markets and realistic aspirations

The framework conceives three levels of aspiration – low, realistic and high – for a given set of skills. As
previously discussed, aspirations and action can be seen to follow an inverted U shape, where realistic

14
   ILO Working Paper 8

levels of aspiration are at the top of the arms of the U and most conducive to successfully aspired to
outcomes.

X Figure 4.1 Aspirations and labour markets

In figure 4.1, the diverse set of aspirational dimensions for a given set of skills is represented by the
arrows. Each arrow represents a particular dimension (income), and aspirations can range from low to
realistic to high. Individuals may develop strong aspirations in one particular dimension and weaker
ones in another. To demonstrate the links between the different dimensions, take for instance, a per-
son who is hoping to have an enjoyable work–life balance: their aspired to salary may be a little lower
than for career-driven young people, for whom salary and career development goals will be strong but
with less of a work–life balance. How people prioritize different aspirational dimensions is partly deter-
mined by preferences and socioeconomic environment and, again, the labour market.

Local labour market conditions influence the range of realistic aspirations and successful labour market
outcomes, as represented by the darker colour (see figure 4.1). Yet, labour market conditions alter in
response to the technological, social and economic forces that shape supply and demand, thereby shift-
ing and potentially increasing or decreasing the range of realistic aspirations available. Technological
change influences how production factors, such as capital and labour, relate to each other and deter-
mines the skills required from workers. Automation and robotization may replace workers with ma-
chines and drive low-skilled workers and increasingly medium-skilled ones out of the market, thereby
decreasing the likelihood that low- and medium-skilled people will find another job, earn a decent in-
come and work at the technical level to which they aspire. Hence, labour markets that are more chal-
lenging affect how large is the range of aspirations that individuals are likely to achieve.

Along with technological change, social forces may shape labour market conditions. A minimum wage
structure, social protection and employer–employee relationships are largely the result of labour market
policy interventions targeting the challenging evolutions in the labour market. Labour markets that are
more flexible can fuel the aspirations of people who want to combine jobs with study, family or life qual-
ity, but they can depress aspirations in, say, the dimension of social protection or career development.

Hence labour market forces and labour market policies jointly determine how narrow or wide is the range
of realistic aspirations for any given skills set. A limited range can motivate people to engage in educa-
tion and skills development in order to open more perspectives, feeding into new future aspirations.

15
  ILO Working Paper 8

X 4.2 Labour market trends and their implications for

aspirations
There are currently various labour market trends with the potential to affect aspirations. In particular,
technological change, instigating robotization, automation and an increasing use of information and
communication technology (ICT) in the workplace, is leading to non-standard forms of employment
and new employer–employee relations. This may have many implications for what can realistically be
aspired to in the various aspirational dimensions, including social protection and job flexibility. These
evolutions in the labour market and their implications for aspirations are discussed in brief below.

4.2.1 Non-standard forms of employment

Over the past decades, one of the most prominent features of global labour markets has been the
growth in non-standard forms of employment (NSE) (ILO, 2016). In contrast to nine-to-five wage work,
NSE incorporates (1) temporary employment, (2) part-time and on-call work, (3) multi-party employ-
ment relationships and (4) disguised employment and dependent self-employment (ILO, 2016).

This evolution clearly broadens possibilities in terms of job flexibility or work-life balance, but narrows
expectations for young people who aspire to a full-time wage job providing a decent and stable income.
For most workers, employment in NSE is accompanied by job insecurity and even working poverty. In
many low-income countries, NSE has come to dominate the labour market in the form of informal em-
ployment or employment in informal sectors.

Own-account workers (self-employed without employees) made up over a third of all global employ-
ment in 2018 (ILO, 2019). Surveys show that in Europe individuals who are self-employed are often
motivated to be so for positive reasons, such as autonomy and a better work–life balance, and that
they are generally well remunerated. However, there are also negative motivations driving people into
self-employment; increasingly, employers like to work on an ad-hoc basis with professionals who are
self-employed in order to flexibly match the size of their workforce to the business cycle in anticipation
of fluctuations in demand (Eurofound, 2018).

Hence, non-standard jobs are also associated with increased fragility and precariousness. They are
hit hard by negative demand shocks and may not benefit equally from the social security system, in-
cluding pension and unemployment benefits, and they tend to be found amoung youth in particular
(O’Higgins, 2017; Chandy, 2017; Bruno et al., 2014; Gontkovičová et al., 2015). Being in NSE reduces the
possibility of receiving on-the-job training and gaining from professional guidance, which can have a
negative effect on career development (ILO, 2016). In addition, young workers who are informally em-
ployed have a higher risk of being in and out of employment, which could discourage them aspiring
to a higher employment achievement (Beyer, 2018). In some cases, hardship for youth in entering job
markets and securing stable employment may lead to frustration and drive them into being inactive
(Arpaia & Curci, 2010).

4.2.2 Technological change and demand for work

The influence of technological change on the demand for labour and its impact on the aspirations of
youth is another cause for concern. Technological change may entail automation, replacing people by
machines. Concern about robotization and automation was at the centre of academic and policy de-
bates following the publication of Frey and Osborne’s (2013) influential paper revealing that around 47
per cent of 702 occupations examined in the United States are at risk of replacement by computeriza-
tion. Subsequent research, mainly in OECD countries, has confirmed what Frey and Osborne found, but
gone on to demonstrate that technological advance may also create a considerable proportion of new
occupations for the young. “Jobs at risk” should not therefore be equated to expected net employment
losses, because the adoption of new technologies is a slow process, so not all the “jobs at risk” will dis-
appear in the short term. Workers thus may have time to adjust to the changing labour environment
by switching tasks and educations while new technologies progress and diffuse.

Irrespective of its potential magnitude or speed of impact, “skill-based technological change” is cer-
tain to alter the set of employable skills needed in the future. The massive use of computer-controlled

16
  ILO Working Paper 8

machinery has tended to make workers performing routine manual tasks redundant (Autor, Levy, &
Murnane, 2003). The US and UK labour markets have polarized, with growing employment in high-tech,
high-income jobs, on the one hand, and low-income manual jobs on the other hand (Goos, Manning,
& Salomons, 2009). Displacement is no longer a concern for medium-skilled employment only, but
is also moving into the higher skilled employment segment (Autor, 2015). Jobs are increasingly tend-
ing to have cognitive, interactive and ICT-components. Therefore, highly skilled workers in complex
fields will be more capable of getting secure employment (Castro Silva & Lima, 2017; Lowry, Molloy, &
McGlennon, 2008). Youth that lack ICT or technology-related skills could be penalized in future labour
markets. Especially the manufacturing sector – the traditional springboard for youth career transitions
in developing and middle-income countries – which might not be able to offer sufficient positions to
youth lacking ICT skills.

Additionally, the impact of technology on jobs and workers will be clearly uneven across countries.
It will depend on a country’s level of development, its adaptation to new technologies and how well
the labour force is prepared for the changes technology brings (Acemoglu & Autor, 2011; ILO, 2017a).
Through foreign direct investment, technology diffuses rapidly. For a limited time, young labour market
entrants in less developed countries might remain exempted from the influence of frontier technology,
but they will need to adapt to the technology-driven world eventually (ILO, 2017a). In South Africa, for
example, the IT-enabled services sector is growing fast, providing jobs for an increasingly large pool
of medium-skilled workers conducting business processing services, such as administrative, legal and
after sales services for large foreign customers’ firms (Keijser, 2019). In Ethiopia, evidence shows that
foreign firms have increasingly sought skilled workers, but where export activity is involved there was
a higher demand for unskilled workers, due to the country’s comparative advantage still being its low-
cost labour (Haile et al., 2017). More jobs is desirable for a country with a youth bulge ready to enter
the labour market, but the effect of technology on occupations’ skills and wages may differ between
countries and may serve to either reduce or reinforce social exclusion for disadvantaged youth. These
evolutions will ultimately be reflected in the beliefs, experiences and social networks of the young peo-
ple developing aspirations, and hence influence what can realistically be achieved by young people
equipped with a particular skills set.

4.2.3 IT-enabled opportunities and social protection

Technological change has also spurred the expansion of a range of more flexible working arrangements.
Especially digital innovation decentralizes the unit of economic activity from corporations to individu-
als, affording workers more chances to participate in labour markets as entrepreneurs (Chandy, 2017).

The growing gig (platform) economy is fuelling the growth of various types of flexible employment
and self-employment (De Stefano, 2016; Katz & Krueger, 2019). This may take the form of crowd work,
whereby work is posted on Internet platforms to the “crowd” and customers and contractors can then
manage it through either a digital platform (ILO, 2019) or “work-on-demand via apps”, with examples
such as Uber, Airbnb, TaskRabbit. This may serve to free people from geographical restrictions and
create more flexible job opportunities for all.

Nevertheless, this all comes at the risk of weak social protection related to NSE, as described above
(Smith & Leberstein, 2015). The growing group of “platform workers” is not contractually employed by
customers, so their status is one of legal uncertainty in the labour market. The flexibility of employ-
ment can be a sword that cuts both ways; it grants working autonomy but can also isolate workers
and weaken their bargaining power (Codagnone, Abadie, & Biagi, 2016). In the long run, the platform
employment may endanger income stability, increase unemployment and exclude workers from so-
cial security coverage.

The heterogeneous effects of technological change on global labour markets creates uncertainty for
the future of work, which brings more challenges to the youth of today than previously experienced
by their parents’ generation. As indicated in the preceding section, young people are starting careers
in diverse forms of unstable and insecure employment (ILO, 2017a). Meanwhile, while young people
still associate the ideal job with aspects of more traditional forms of employment, such as a good sal-
ary, career development opportunities and social protection, they are also increasingly open to great-
er flexibility in their job and a good work–life balance. In many parts of the world, the gap between
career aspirations and labour market reality is widening, to a point that it may hurt young people’s
chances of employment. A recurrent issue is youth in developing countries aspiring to a decent formal

17
  ILO Working Paper 8

job in the public sector where job offers are in decline, often leading to unemployment, as seen in a
study on Ethiopia (Mains, 2012). Therefore, in order to help youth mobilize their aspirational strength,
we need to better understand their aspirations in life and at work. This includes what they value most
in their work, what they aspire to for the future and how these aspirations can be aligned with future
job or career development perspectives through policy interventions that help them develop the right
skills set for the aspired to positions and which cushion labour market shocks. This calls, in the first
place, for a survey of the existing empirical evidence of (drivers of) aspirations of youth around the
world to help identify evidence gaps and contribute to the development of better evidence-based la-
bour market policies.

18
  ILO Working Paper 8

X
5 Measuring youth aspirations in
the world of work: an overview of
existing surveys and indicators

Recent surveys focusing on youth (or sub-populations of youth) have included questions about aspi-
rations or goals for the future, about what they value in a job or career, and about their beliefs and
worldviews. While these surveys did not have as a primary objective collecting evidence of youth aspi-
rations in the labour market, many touch on particular aspects or dimensions of youth (career) aspi-
rations. They are therefore a good starting point when considering the methodologies applied so far
and for bringing together for a first time in a systematic overview the evidence on youth aspirations.

Subsection 5.1 provides a brief overview of the surveys selected, drawing on the information presented
in Appendix A. Subsection 5.2 describes how the surveys have been operationalized according to as-
pirations, expectations, or beliefs or values that contribute to shaping or driving aspirations. Detailed
examples of questions taken from different surveys are presented in Appendix B as illustrative of the
similarities and differences between the survey instruments reviewed for this study. The next section
(section 6) presents the evidence.

X 5.1 Data sources: discussion of data sources, coverage,

target groups
Eighteen surveys were identified with relevant indicators for various dimensions of youth (labour market)
aspirations. The surveys selected have all been conducted within the last ten years and many within the
last three. They do, however, differ widely from one another and this makes comparisons sometimes
difficult. For instance, the number of countries covered, the number of respondents and the mode of
delivery varies considerably between surveys. Modes of delivery include online, SMS messaging, face-
to-face surveys and Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI). Surveys that use the Internet to col-
lect responses are able to reach respondents in more countries than otherwise.

To give a brief overview, Figure 5.1 plots the country coverage and number of respondents. Where a sur-
vey is thought to have been conducted only online, then the data point is represented by a blue circle.
Where the survey has been conducted via other means (e.g. in person or via telephone or SMS messag-
ing), perhaps in addition to online delivery channels, the data point is represented by a blue diamond.

19
   ILO Working Paper 8

X Figure 5.1 Sources of data: country coverage and number of respondents

Note: ASEAN Transform: ASEAN in Transformation; PwC: PricewaterhouseCoopers; SWTS: School-to-Work Transition Survey.
This figure does not include all the surveys; for example, the preliminary report for the Youth Speak Survey conducted by
AIESEC reports neither the number of countries nor the mode of survey delivery.

Source: Authors’ elaboration, based on information provided in the reviewed reports on the number of countries and re-
spondents.

The most important difference between the surveys selected is the target population. A majority tar-
gets youth populations, but the exact age range varies; indeed, some even target entire populations,
including adults. The population surveyed is often further restricted beyond just the target age range.
Restrictions may occur by default; for instance, due to the channels or modes of delivery by which a
survey reaches potential respondents. For example, the ASEAN Youth and Future of Work survey (see
more details in Appendix A, table 2) collected responses via online e-commerce or gaming platforms.
Restrictions are explicit when the survey’s declared aim is to solicit responses from youth with specific
characteristics (i.e. students); for example, Deloitte (see more details in Appendix A, table 5) surveyed
millennials with a university degree who were employed full-time (mostly in large, private sector com-
panies).

Both these types of restriction are potential sources of bias, if the idea is to generalize about the entire
youth population (or all millennials),4 and limit our ability to compare the evidence across surveys. The
opinions held by millennial respondents to Deloitte’s survey about the impact Industry 4.0 might have
on their jobs, could systematically differ from those of millennials with no university degree and who
are unemployed. Online e-commerce and games platform users may be systematically more optimistic

4
Much of the reporting of these surveys appears under headlines such as ‘2018 Deloitte Millennial Survey: Millennials dis-
appointed in business, unprepared for Industry 4.0’ which somehow imply that results based on a restricted sample popu-
lation of employed university graduates working mostly in large companies can be generalized to all “millennials”.

20
  ILO Working Paper 8

(for example) about whether technology is likely to increase jobs than youth without access to the
Internet. Clearly, the findings of such studies are only representative for the more restricted popula-
tion of youth targeted.

A study by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (see more details in Appendix A, table
15) set up 64 polling sites to interview youth in Armenia, aiming to yield a nationally representative youth
sample. This was the sole study we found where a nationally representative sample was obtained. The
World Values Survey collects responses from 60 countries and has made strenuous efforts to obtain a
representative sample of each country’s population, but it does not exclusively target youth. Results
from the World Values Survey can be filtered by age group to ascertain the responses by youth (aged
18–29). This feature might be useful in some cases, for example, to compare how youth feel about a
particular topic with respect to other age groups, but a potential downside is that the questions and
survey instrument are not specifically tailored to young people.

In Appendix A, table 1 through table 18 summarize information about the year the survey was conduct-
ed, the number of countries, the target age group, number of respondents and restrictions (by default
or explicit) on the sample population. Each table includes a statement describing the objective of the
survey; a statement describing the mode of survey delivery; and a short discussion about the survey’s
respondents. The sources of information used to describe each survey come from either the survey
itself, the documentation supporting the survey or reports written about the results of the survey.

X 5.2 Indicators of work-related aspirations

This subsection discusses the operationalization of indicators with reference to the specific questions
put to respondents by the different surveys (presented in Appendix B.). Questions are classified into
question groups, depending on the dimension measured (ability, beliefs/perceptions, desire/values,
drivers and perceptions thereof, e.g., labour market perceptions), as discussed in the literature.

The state-of-the-art in terms of the current theoretical and empirical literature on aspirations has been
covered earlier by section 3. Naturally, concepts must be operationalized in order to be measured in
social science research.5 Therefore, in the review of survey questions that measure aspirations, the
distinction between different dimensions of aspirations has been isolated and amplified. In theoreti-
cal section 3 above, aspirations are characterised as “the personal desires of individuals (preferences
and goals), their beliefs about the opportunities available to them in society (opportunities and path-
ways) and their expectations about what can be achieved through their own effort in an uncertain fu-
ture (self-efficacy and agency)”.

We identify survey questions that tackle the first dimension, which we call the “goal dimension of aspi-
rations”, including career goals and the related “desired values and characteristics of jobs (or careers)”.
“Expectations” are defined as a concept related to aspirations, in that it combines goals and prefer-
ences, on the one hand, with pathways and agency on the other. We identify questions that fit this
description. We further identify questions assessing pathways and opportunities, or a lack thereof, by
selecting those questions that ask for “perceived obstacles to achieving aspirations”. We distinguish
between these perceived obstacles from perceptions and beliefs about technology, and from general
perceptions about the world.

We were unable, however, to identify in the above mentioned surveys any questions that could be used
as a measure of “self-efficacy and agency”.

5
This is more challenging when constructs (or abstract concepts) are multi-dimensional (Bhattacherjee, 2012). Aspirations
are a multi-dimensional concept with many layers. In theory (and in reality) the formation of aspirations is shaped by a si-
multaneous feedback process in which own and vicarious experience, opportunities and social context, intermingle with
preferences, psychological traits and ideas about expected outcomes, which evolve aspirations from one point in time to
another. The concepts may be dynamic, but in this section it is necessary to pinpoint and articulate constructs that have
been used to measure particular dimensions of aspirations.

21
  ILO Working Paper 8

5.2.1 The goal dimension of aspirations

In accord with the notions set forth in section 3 based on the theory of hope, we have classified the
questions in Appendix B, table 1 as ones that operationalize the aspired to goals. Many of the ques-
tions are phrased in a way that asks individuals about their preferences or ideal sector of work or type
of organization as an occupational or career aspired to goal.

Response choice varies between surveys. While many ask young people similar questions about their
preferred sector of work or job, the response choices yield different kinds of information. For exam-
ple, some surveys offer relatively broad responses categories for preferred sector of work, while others
classify sectors in a more detailed way. To illustrate this variation, Appendix B presents the response
choices in table 2 that correspond to the questions presented in table 1.

The desired/preferred job characteristics dimension is closely linked to the aspirations literature stating
that aspirations capture the personal preferences of individuals (along with beliefs about the oppor-
tunities available to them in society, and expectations as to what can be achieved through their own
effort in an uncertain future). In the context of work, this translates into survey questions which ask
youth about what characteristics their ideal jobs would have (or similar phrasing). We assume this to
be an underlying driver leading young people to form aspirations of working for a particular type of
organization, or in a particular sector, hence preferred job characteristics and aspired to goals are in-
terlinked. See Appendix B, table 3 for examples of survey questions related to a respondent’s desired
or preferred job characteristics.

5.2.2 Expectations
As explained earlier in section 3, when what we aspire to for our future (aspirational goals) is aligned
with what we believe can be achieved given the right circumstances (opportunities), and through your
own effort, aspirations become analogous to expectations. Most of the questions in Appendix B, ta-
ble 4 actually contain the word ‘expectations’ in relation to career goals, or ask respondents what they
think will take place.

By asking youth about perceived obstacles to getting a job, answers reveal perceived limitations or
constraints to achieving the goal of getting a job, reflecting a perceived lack of opportunity. In the con-
text of youth and the future of work, this question may serve to highlight an important gap between
aspirational goals and successful outcomes.

Youths’ assessment of the value of education, apprenticeships and particular labour market opportu-
nities might also have an affect on aspirations achievement. Examples of survey questions that oper-
ationalize this notion are presented in Appendix B, table 5.

5.2.3 Perceptions/beliefs about technology

There is a fierce debate and a wide range of opinions regarding how new technologies are likely to
affect employment opportunities. These range from a deep fear that jobs (or tasks within jobs) will
be destroyed to a more general technological optimism that, ultimately, new technologies will create
new jobs. Digitalization, automation and robotization are predicted to change the very nature of how
we work. This is an important issue for all groups of people, but perhaps of most concern for today’s
youth, who are either new to or entering the labour market. That said, young people have been ex-
posed to some of today’s technologies from a younger age than older generations and may be more
comfortable and competent with technology and therefore not feel as threatened by these new tech-
nologies as perhaps are older generations (see the earlier discussion in subsection 4.3). Examples of
survey questions asking youth about their perceptions regarding technology and its implications are
presented in Appendix B, table 6.

5.2.4 General perceptions/beliefs about the world

Appendix B, table 7 highlights examples of survey questions capturing general perceptions about the
world and future possibilities that might help shape aspirations. The framework developed earlier in
subsection 3.3 describes how aspirations are developed and achieved and how lived experiences and
social messages and beliefs feed into aspiration formulation.

22
  ILO Working Paper 8

X
6 Youth aspirations and the world of
work: Global evidence

The global trends in young people’s career aspirations as revealed in the data are discussed in this
section. Indicators of aspirations or sub-dimensions thereof (specifically, perceptions of labour mar-
ket challenges, most valued characteristics of a job) are presented and then data is compared by re-
gion and by gender.

Data from the Global Shapers Survey is used as a basis for the analysis. The Global Shapers Survey tar-
gets young people (aged 18–35) and has one of the most extensive country coverages (191 countries)
from among the surveys reviewed for this report. In total, there were 24,766 respondents. Responses
were collected via online and offline channels, together with some workshops designed for a wider
range of respondents. However, despite attempts to increase its reach, the Survey makes no claim to
representativeness. The Survey collected background information (including on gender) and grouped
questions into themes such as “values, outlook, and workplace”. The data also contain information about
a respondent’s region. For these reasons, the data from this survey was used to explore the sub-di-
mensions of aspirations, together with expectations and the perceptions of youth regarding whether
technology is likely to create or destroy jobs in the various regions around the world.

X 6.1 Regional trends

Figure 6.1 presents data from two important sub-dimensions of aspirations, namely desired/valued job
characteristics and perceived obstacles to job prospects. Young people were asked: “What are your most
important criteria when considering job opportunities?” and “What are your biggest concerns about
your job prospects when you apply for a new job?” Respondents were allowed to choose up to three
of the answers listed. Responses are disaggregated according to gender.

In Asia, salary and financial compensation is ranked first by young women in this region, whereas
growth and career advancement ranked top for young men. Women value the opportunity to travel
internationally more than do men and young women and men both have lack of experience and too
much competition as their two biggest concerns when applying for a job. But, a greater percentage
of young women indicate discrimination by employers as being a concern than do young men.

The most striking finding for Europe and Central Asia is that, in contrast to every other region in the
world, youth did not rank salary and financial compensation as the most important criterion for a job.
More young women identified sense of purpose and impact on society together with work–life bal-
ance as being more important than salary and financial compensation when considering a job. More
young men chose salary and compensation, but sense of purpose and impact on society ranked sec-
ond. Like their counterparts in Asia, young men and women in Europe worry about lack of experience
and too much competition. In Europe, more women than men cite discrimination by employers and
not enough jobs as concerns.

In North America, similarly to Europe, more young women than young men nominated sense of pur-
pose and impact on society as important to them, but in North America a greater proportion of young
women cited flexibility and autonomy as important. Consistent with other regions, young men and
women both worry about lack of experience and competition, but more also identify lack of social net-
works and luck as factors when applying for jobs.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, salary and financial compensation and growth and career ad-
vancement topped the chart for young women and young men alike, but greater proportions of wom-
en chose sense of purpose and impact on society and flexibility as of importance. While lack of expe-
rience and competition are again the biggest concerns, many more youth nominated there being not
enough jobs as a major concern than in other regions.

23
   ILO Working Paper 8

In Middle East and North Africa, while salary and financial compensation and growth and career ad-
vancement ranked top for both young women and young men, a larger proportion of women valued
a work–life balance, which is not surprising considering household duties tend to be assigned to wom-
en in this region. Both young women and young men cited discrimination by employers as the biggest
concern when applying for jobs. This may be gender discrimination or segregation, following the ob-
servation that particular jobs are reserved for particular sexes. Furthermore, both young women and
men indicated that there are not enough jobs available.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, a large proportion of young men cited training and development as the most
crucial criteria when considering job opportunities and discrimination by employers as a major con-
cern, while women cited “sense of purpose” as the third most desired job characteristic. All youth in
every region were most worried about lack of experience when applying for jobs, and in sub-Saharan
Africa it is no different.

X Figure 6.1. Top five valued job characteristics and concerns in job applications amongst young people (18-35 years), 2017, by
region

24
   ILO Working Paper 8

Sources: Own elaborations based on Global Shapers Survey (2017).

Notes: Respondents could select up to 3 out of 10 responses, hence totals do not add up to 100 per cent. The 11 respons-
es for “Most important criteria when considering job opportunities” were (i) company culture/quality of colleagues (ii) dy-
namic and growing enterprise, (iii) product/service quality, (iv) opportunity to travel internationally, (v) reputation of compa-
ny/social status, (vi) flexibility/autonomy (working hours, location), (vii) work-life balance, (viii) training and development, (ix)
sense of purpose/impact on society, (x) growth / career advancement, (xi) salary/financial compensation. The 11 responses
for “Biggest concerns about job prospects when applying for a job” were (i) lack of language skills, (ii) lack of presentation/soft
skills, (iii) luck plays a big role, (iv) geographical constraints, (v) good jobs don’t get advertised, (vi) lack of friend/mentor net-
work, (vii) not enough jobs, (viii) lack of right education/skills, (ix) discrimination by employers, (x) too much competition, (xi)
lack of experience. Respondents from East Asia and the Pacific and South Asia have been combined in panels showing Global
Shapers Data

To summarize the findings from this analysis: if we plot the percentage of youth who selected salary
and financial compensation as one of the three most important criteria when choosing a job by the
level of human development in their country, an inverse relationship can be seen. That is, the lower
the human development index, the greater the proportion of youth who nominate salary as one of the
three most important criteria when considering a job opportunity.

We can contrast this relationship with the inverted U-shaped relationship found when opportunity to
travel internationally is plotted by human development category. In the lowest and highest human de-
velopment categories, international travel is cited less often than it is in countries in the mid-to-high
range of human development. This finding accords intuitively with a hierarchy of needs perspective: once
financial needs are met, other interests and needs can begin to emerge. In countries with the highest
level of human development, there may simply be less incentive to travel abroad to seek opportunity.

25
   ILO Working Paper 8

X Figure 6.2. Different important job criteria, by human development category

Source: Own elaborations based on Global Shapers Survey (2017)

Notes: The y-axis is different in each panel, although both span 5 percentage points, there is a far greater proportion of re-
spondents (in all human development categories) who selected ‘Salary / financial compensation’ as one of the three most im-
portant job criteria. This would be evident from studying figure 6.1 above.

X 6.2 Technological change and jobs

The Global Shapers Survey, like many other surveys reviewed in this report, asks young people about
their perceptions regarding whether technology is creating or destroying jobs. Figure 6.3 gives a re-
gional overview of responses to the question: “In your opinion, technology is…”. Possible answers were:
creating jobs, or destroying jobs, or NA.

X Figure 6.3. Perceptions of the influence of technology on job creation, 2017, by region (18-35 years)

26
   ILO Working Paper 8

In Asia, youth were overwhelmingly positive about technology creating jobs, which supports evidence
found in other surveys conducted in countries in the ASEAN region. In Europe, youth are much less
optimistic about technology creating jobs than their counterparts in Asia and North America. The only
other region where only 60 per cent of youth believed that technology is creating jobs is sub-Saha-
ran Africa. The youth most optimistic about technology creating jobs are in North America. In Latin
America and the Caribbean, a relatively high percentage (70 per cent) of youth in the region believed
the same. In the Middle East and North Africa region, 66 per cent of the youth were optimistic that
technology is creating jobs.

It is possible that differences might arise, because of the different age groups surveyed; considering
the rapid rate of change of today’s technology, the age range across the surveys selected (18–35 years
of age) spans a long time-horizon. Nevertheless, generally speaking, there was not too much differ-
ence between 5 sub-age groups with regards to the opinions they held about whether technology is
likely to create or destroy jobs. Interestingly, the youngest sub-age group (18–21 years of age) had the
smallest fraction of respondents (64 per cent) that thought technology creates jobs. In fact, the results
for ages 27–30 were exactly the same as for ages 31–35 (68 per cent thought that technology creates
jobs). Ages 22–26 were almost as optimistic (67 per cent).

Making use of the background information collected by the Survey, we explored further how the an-
swers about technology changed depending on employer or sector of employment in figure 6.4. Only
60 per cent of young people who were unemployed believed that technology is creating jobs, where-
as 71 per cent of people working for either non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or international
organizations believed this to be true. There is no marked difference apparent between unemployed
youth and other youth who are employed in different sectors as regards the opinion they hold about
this question. It is important to note that there are fewer respondents who are unemployed vis-à-vis
the number of respondents who are students or working in the private sector, so we ought to be cau-
tious and not draw too strong conclusions about unemployed youth.

X Figure 6.4. Young people’s opinions about whether technology is creating or destroying jobs, by employer or employment/
student status, 2017 (18-35 years)

Source: Own elabouration based on Global Shapers Survey (2017)

Using the World Values Survey, in figure 6.5 we juxtapose the viewpoints of people regarding whether
the world is either better or worse off because of technology with the percentage of respondents who
had never used a personal computer. The map in the left-hand panel illustrates survey respondents’
sentiments as to whether the world is better off because of science and technology. The response
scale was from 1 (a lot worse off) to 10 (a lot better off). The lowest mean for any given country is a

27
  ILO Working Paper 8

5.87 and the highest 8.87. Most countries are in some shade of yellow to green, indicating a country
mean of 8 or above. So, generally speaking, people are quite positive about the world being better off
because of science and technology. The map in the centre panel is about how frequently respondents
used a personal computer. Countries in green had among the highest proportion of people who had
never used a personal computer; the maximum was in Zimbabwe, where this was true of 72.4 per cent
of respondents. Countries in red had a very small proportion of people who had never used a personal
computer; the smallest was in the Netherlands, where it was true of only 1.7 per cent of respondents.
The right-hand panel shows a scatter plot for these two indicators. Clearly the range of responses for
perceptions regarding science and technology is far smaller than the one for the percentage of re-
spondents who have never used a personal computer. The correlation between the two indicators is
very low, almost zero (0.04).

We ran a similar exercise for the percentage of respondents who said that their job was mostly man-
ual and found that for those countries where respondents’ job tasks are mostly manual there is a 0.3
correlation with the perception that the world is better off because of science and technology. This is
still a relatively low correlation coefficient, but not as negligible as the correlation between use of a
personal computer.

As an illustrative example, let us consider India. Despite the fact that the vast majority of respondents
in India considered the world to be better off because of science and technology, 59.3 per cent report-
ed that they have never used a personal computer, and almost 18 per cent indicated that the nature
of their tasks at work was mostly manual. This does not mean that people in India should not be op-
timistic about science and technology. The ICT industry in India has afforded many opportunities in
the country and cell phone technology has increased access to finance. But, if almost 60 per cent have
never used a personal computer and 18 per cent have manual jobs, it does call into question whether
people in India are equipped with the basic computer skills necessitated by technological change and
future labour market trajectories.

28
   ILO Working Paper 8

X Figure 6.5. Perceptions of technology, juxtaposed with actual personal computer use

Source: World Values Survey, 2010–14 (6th Wave). Online analytics for the maps and own elaboration using World Values
Survey data for the scatter plot.

29
  ILO Working Paper 8

X 6.3 Aspiration gaps and aspiration failures

The 2017 report Youth Aspirations and the Reality of Jobs in Developing Countries from the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is based on the harmonization and analysis of
data from 32 school-to-work transition surveys conducted by the ILO in developing and transition coun-
tries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean from 2012 to 2015 (OECD, 2017). It
pointed to the mismatch between youth aspirations and projected labour demand being alarmingly
pronounced in a number of the countries surveyed. The job characteristics valued by youth are also
difficult to ascertain in many countries. This led the OECD to caution that a wide gap between aspira-
tions and reality is likely to result in lower levels of motivation and productivity, thus increasing frus-
tration at the same time as it decreases well-being, and could even lead to social unrest (ibid., p. 14).

The OECD’s findings are summarized in Figure 6.6, which highlights the discrepancies between what
youth aspires to and actual employment. This point must be considered carefully, especially in devel-
oping country contexts where the absolute lack of opportunity for work is a binding constraint. In a
chilling case, described in an ILO report on “The Future of Work We Want” in Latin America and the
Caribbean, a young participant told workshop facilitators that (paraphrasing), “if you help us find work,
we can eat, and if we can eat, we can think”. That participant was subsequently shot dead by a neigh-
bour in his villa for playing music too loudly (ILO, 2017, p. 73). It cannot be over emphasized that so-
cial and labour market conditions are a prerequisite for dreams and aspirations.

What the OECD found from the School-to-Work Transition Survey (SWTS) data is that students in the
countries surveyed overwhelmingly aspired to work in the public sector. Across countries, this was
the case for an average of 57 per cent of those surveyed. This is at odds with the fact that only 17 per
cent of young workers were employed in the public sector at the time of the survey (which includes
state-owned enterprises, international organizations, NGOs and public companies). Similarly, in most
countries, more youth expressed a desire to work in the private sector or self-employment or for a
family business than actually do. Another risky mismatch is that the high percentages of students who
desired high-skilled work will most likely be unable to fulfil those aspirations (even tertiary students),
given the current labour market trajectories (ibid., p. 13).

30
   ILO Working Paper 8

X Figure 6.6. Young people’s (18-29 years) aspirational gaps, by region, country and sector of activity

Source: OECD (2017). OECD’s calculations based on SWTS 2012–15 data.

Notes: The figure shows the difference in the share of young students in the country who say they want to work in that sec-
tor and the actual employment of young people in that sector. Within each region, countries are sorted by the difference be-
tween reality and desire (aspirational gaps). 1Data for El Salvador are urban only and 2data for Montenegro, Togo and Viet
Nam are missing sample weights.

31
   ILO Working Paper 8

The OECD offers several policy recommendations to curb the mismatch between young people’s la-
bour market aspirations and reality. The first is to provide youth with information about labour mar-
ket prospects to help guide their career choices. Indeed, around 33 per cent of respondents to the Citi
and Ipsos survey said that if they “knew where to find information about job opportunities”, it would
make it easier to find a job. Yet, the most cited need of around 48 per cent of respondents was “more
on-the-job-experience” (Citi and Ipsos, 2017).

While the OECD analysis gives some information about aspirational gaps, we only see the mismatch
for a broad classification of sectors (public and private) and it would be instructive to have an analysis
based on economic sector of employment or actual occupations. For example, an analysis conduct-
ed by Education and Employers together with the United Kingdom’s Commission for Employment and
Skills and B-live found the aspirations of people aged 15–16 to have “nothing in common” with actual
and projected demand in the workforce (as cited by Chambers et al., 2018).

Figure 6.7 is excerpted from the Drawing the Future publication produced by Education and Employers
(Chambers et al., 2018) and shows the occupational aspirations of youth aged 15–16 mapped against
projected demand in the labour market (2010–20).

X Figure 6.7 Aspirational gaps based on occupations, young people (15–16-year-olds) in the United Kingdom, 2010–20

Source: Excerpted from Chambers et al., 2018

Chambers et al. noted that these findings raise a major concern about the extent of the gap between
jobs that actually existed (or were projected to exist) and what young people aspired to do and related
this to a lack of information. The Office of National Statistics in the United Kingdom published a blog
in September 2018 expressing a similar concern. They found that the top five dream jobs for young
people aged 16–21 in 2011–12 did not align with the proportion of persons aged 22–29 in those oc-
cupations in 2017.

32
   ILO Working Paper 8

X Figure 6.8 Aspirational gaps in the United Kingdom: top five jobs that persons aged 16–21 wanted and the employment of
persons aged 22–29 in 2017

Source: United Kingdom Office for National Statistics blog, available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmar-
ket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/youngpeoplescareeraspirationsversusreality/2018-09-27

A study conducted in Switzerland in 2010 found that around 80 per cent of young people in grade sev-
en (aged 13–15) who were predominantly non-college bound had at least one realistic career aspira-
tion (Hirschi, 2010). The Swiss education system is a dual system whereby around two-thirds of stu-
dents go into vocational education and training in grade nine. The study asked 252 students to name
the vocational education or training or the school they were considering after grade nine. Students
could list as many options as they wanted (Hirschi, 2010). Due to the particular structure of the Swiss
education system, it was possible for the author to build a measure of how realistic was this aspiration.
This analysis is quite distinct from the studies conducted in the United Kingdom, but one interesting
difference stems from students being allowed to mention as many aspirations as they wanted. For all
but 20 per cent of respondents, at least one of those mentioned was realistic. This suggests that the
way in which responses are solicited can yield different “matches” with reality; if a young person can
list multiple career aspirations, what are the chances that at least one is consistent with labour mar-
ket demand? This is a different question from the one analysed by the Office of National Statistics and
Education and Employers in the United Kingdom.

The OECD’s second recommendation for reducing aspirational gaps is the promotion of entrepre-
neurship for young people who possess a high degree of entrepreneurial potential. According to the
OECD’s report, youth identified self-employment and working for a family business as desirable, when
through choice or because their family needed help (OECD, 2017). However, it is known that entrepre-
neurship in many developing countries is typically undertaken through necessity rather than choice
therefore promoting more innovative types of entrepreneurship is crucial. Acs et al. (2008) have ar-
gued that positive perceptions of the opportunities available in the environment where one lives and
about one’s own entrepreneurial capabilities drives people into opportunity entrepreneurship, a mech-
anism that clearly corresponds to the drivers of aspiration formation as described earlier in section 3.
Box 6.1 presents the results of a recent study on differences between entrepreneurial attitudes and a
country’s level of early-stage entrepreneurial activity.

33
   ILO Working Paper 8

X Box 6.1 Entrepreneurial attitudes and entrepreneurship

Beynon et al. (2016) took a sample of 54 countries from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2011 survey to analyze four country-level entre-
preneurial attitudes and assess their role in driving Total early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA), which has been related to a strong busi-
ness culture and growth. Entrepreneurial attitudes are defined in the table below.

Definitions of variables used in analysis

Variable Description
Perceived opportunities Percentage of 18–64 age group who see good opportunities to start a firm in the area
where they live
Perceived capabilities Percentage of 18–64 age group who believe they have the necessary skills and knowl-
edge to start a business
Fear of failure Percentage of 18–64 age group who with positive perceived opportunities who indi-
cate that fear of failure would prevent them from setting up a business
Entrepreneurial intention Percentage of 18–64 age group who intend to start a business within three years
Total early-stage Entrepreneurship Activity (TEA) Percentage of 18–64 age group who are either a nascent entrepreneur or owner-man-
ager of a new business
Source: Excerpted from Beynon et al., 2016.

The authors found that for a majority of countries high TEA levels of entrepreneurship related most to entrepreneurial intention, perceived ca-
pabilities and lack of fear of failure, rather than perceived entrepreneurial opportunity (with intention).

The results from this study, coupled with findings from Acs et al. (2008), suggest that stimulating entrepreneurship requires helping young
people build skills, beliefs in capabilities and self-efficacy, and the desire to engage in entrepreneurial activity. In this sense, the OECD’s pro-
posed recommendation to stimulate entrepreneurship programmes by boosting access to financial services and business development services
might be more complete if it also promotes socio-emotional skill building.

X 6.4 The broader set of aspirations

Some of the survey literature on the broad life goals of youth indicates that work may not be their top
priority. This notion was underscored during an interview held by the authors with representatives
of UNI Global Union, who emphasized that youth aspirations of today may be different from those of
previous generations. Today’s youth “work to live, rather than live to work”. Work/career may not be the
most important goal in a young person’s life. Work might more often be regarded as a means to an
end (i.e. to provide for family), whereas in previous generations everything was geared towards career
development. Young people may aspire to aspirations that are more collective (i.e. greater care for the
planet, environment and climate; resurgence of socialism among millennials), rather than to individual
aspirations. Youth may be wary of rhetoric about change (i.e. from large companies and politicians) and
desire actual change (via grassroots protests and demonstrations). Pre-market conditions and social
responsibilities may be a bigger priority than is employment for some youth. That said, it was pointed
out that many youth in many countries need work just to survive.6

Figure 6.9, excerpted from a report of the preliminary results from a YouthSpeak survey by the global
student organization AIESEC, seems to corroborate this notion. Globally, youth indicated that family,
purpose in life, love and friends, were motivating factors that ranked higher than financial reward or
achievement.

6
Interview carried out on 19 February 2019 by UNU-MERIT researchers with UNI Global representatives visiting the ILO
headquarters in Geneva.

34
   ILO Working Paper 8

X Figure 6.9. What motivates youth today? (top 3 answers)

Source: YouthSpeak survey by AIESEC.

Generally speaking, the analysis presented in this section supports the notion that different groups of
youth may respond differently to questions about technology, job preferences and the obstacles to getting
a job. It is therefore very important to calibrate results from surveys that have more restrictive samples
of generally highly educated employed youth (such as Deloitte Millennials and PricewaterhouseCoopers),
since they might not capture the voices of youth who are less educated and not employed. Specifically,
in the case of technology, it may be important for surveys to calibrate respondents’ perceptions and as-
pirations with questions that measure expectations about achieving aspirations and about actual use
of and familiarity with new technologies. For example, Orlik (2017) argues that some people working
in occupations most likely to be affected by digitalization are not necessarily aware of the acute need
to reskill and upskill.

35
  ILO Working Paper 8

X
7 Conclusions and recommendations

X 7.1 Recommendations for data collection

Recent surveys focussed on youth aspiration tend to ask young people about their goals in terms of
(a) ideal sector of work, or (b) ideal occupation. These data collection efforts have been important, be-
cause without them, little would be known about what type of work young people aspire to and what
matters to them in a job or career (OECD, 2017). Of equal importance, as reported by the OECD, is
whether existing labour market conditions live up to youth aspirations. There are risks on either side,
as described in section 3 of this report. Aspirations that are either too low or too high risk aspiration
failure, leading to frustration. It is crucial to balance within the same survey questions about aspira-
tions with questions that assess reality.

The following recommendations are informed by an in-depth review of the research design of youth-fo-
cused surveys and structured as advice for researchers planning projects in this area.

ƒ Draw a sample from youth not in employment, education or training to compare their an-
swers with those engaged in education or work. Many surveys reviewed used a restricted sam-
ple population of youth, either by default or explicitly, and solicited responses from youth who were
employed or in school. These youth may have systematically differed from youth not employed or
in education or training. One strategy could be to follow the example of the Young Lives survey7
and sample young people from groups of interest, including those not working or in education or
training. Regional differences emerged in the analysis of trends around the world from among the
18 surveys reviewed. Drawing a larger sample of youth not in employment, education or training
does not necessarily imply targeting only developing countries. Comparing the aspirations of such
youth in different regions and countries may yield interesting insights.
ƒ Consider the target age group for this kind of research carefully. While most of the 18 surveys
reviewed for this report were about youth, a more recent study asked more than 20,000 children
aged 7–11 to draw a picture of the job they wanted when they grow up (Chambers et al., 2018). This
revealed that social background already influences aspirations at age 7. Relevant questions for pol-
icy-makers are: What age is the right age to intervene, if the goal is to help shape aspirations? And,
are there fundamental differences between aspirations formed at a young age? Are they more deep-
ly rooted and more difficult to reshape than aspirations in later years, or is it the other way around?
ƒ Include questions in survey instruments that self-assess the probability of achieving goals. In
general, when surveys asked youth about their aspirational goals, they were not asked to self-as-
sess the chances of achieving those aspirations. Some of the surveys asked youth about concerns
when applying for jobs (or about obstacles to finding a job), but this is not the same as explicitly
asking young people to evaluate their chances of achieving a particular aspiration. One exception
was the UNDP’s survey in Armenia, in which people were asked to assess the probability of fulfill-
ing their top goals. This self-evaluation could be introduced via direct (as does the UNDP survey)
and/or indirect questions.
ƒ Include self-assessment of digital and technical skills as part of any survey asking questions
about technology. The surveys reviewed tended to ask youth a variety of questions about beliefs
or general perceptions of the world around them. When youth were asked whether technology
creates or destroys jobs, this question should have been complemented with questions about the
respondents’ digital and technical skills and capabilities. Collection of this information would be
useful, because under almost any future scenario of work, generic digital technology will become
increasingly important. Collecting information about digital skill sets to complement young people’s
perceptions will yield results that are more actionable for policy and programme design.

7
Young Lives is an international panel study of childhood poverty that followed the lives of 12,000 children in Ethiopia, India
(in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana), Peru and Viet Nam over a 15-year period.

36
  ILO Working Paper 8

ƒ Introduce additional questions about current activity or occupational status and personal
and/or family characteristics. The surveys reviewed often did not include enough information
about current job and personal and/or family characteristics within the same instrument. Because
almost all recent survey data on this topic use nationally representative samples, using the data to
analyse the role that aspirations have in labour market outcomes is challenging.
ƒ Complement online surveys with mechanisms for reaching youth without access to the Internet.
Modes of survey delivery could inadvertently exclude youths who do not use the Internet. To reach
more youth respondents in a cost-effective way, many recent surveys have been conducted online.
While this may yield a larger number of responses, it may also introduce bias.

37
  ILO Working Paper 8

X 7.2 Recommendations for employment policy

Youth can be influenced. We have argued, based on the literature presented in section 3, that youths’
aspirations are malleable. When policies align youth educational and work aspirations with the path-
ways to achieving them, they are more likely to be successful than when aspirations are ignored.
Therefore, it is clear that employment policies should be geared towards supporting young people in their
aspirations through allowing them to visualize their prospects and by providing the tools necessary to real-
izing the goals to which they aspire.

This report makes the following recommendations:

Career counselling with monitoring may be a good mechanism for relaying information about the types
of jobs available in a given labour market, helping to raise aspirations among aspirations-poor youth
and re-align aspirations that are unlikely to be achieved to more realistic alternatives. Although youth
– particularly disadvantaged youth – are often targeted by active labour market policies (ALMPs), suc-
cess varies regionally, possibly because in some contexts youth aspirations have not been taken into
consideration. Intake interviews by psychologists to determine the aspirations and potential of young
jobseekers, followed by individual assistance programmes to develop a career trajectory for the indi-
vidual job seeker, combined with the identification of possible additional training needs and the provi-
sion of training (see Technical and soft skills training below), are needed in such cases.8 If career coun-
sellors are primed with information about the current trends and aspirations of youth, or lack thereof,
career guidance will prove more effective and tailored to the constraints they face. If career counsel-
ling comes equipped with an understanding of the prevailing goals and attitudes of youth towards
work with respect to (for example) other life goals, and if the counsellors have up-to-date information
about labour market prospects and trajectories, such job assistance programmes may well increase
matches. Moreover, this may be more effective than simple job search training, when the prevailing
labour market conditions are unfavourable and jobs are just not available. Job search training is also
only effective at the expense of crowding out other jobseekers.

Technical and soft skills training are important in reducing young people’s lack of opportunities in the la-
bour market. This may partly be within the scope of employment policies; for instance, when counsel-
ling re-orientates jobseekers towards vocational training or towards training curricula for jobs in high
demand. One of the policy recommendations suggested in discussion with UNI Global Union is that
universal access to reskilling and upskilling should be provided. Digitalization is changing jobs and
the nature of jobs and of work rapidly. Policies need to facilitate reskilling and upskilling at different
points along a career trajectory. The impact of technology may necessitate earlier and more system-
atic intervention; for example, unemployment services and career guidance during the transition from
school to work. New skill accelerators known as “coding bootcamps” combine traditional vocational
style training with rigorous “bootcamp” style coursework and have been found to be very successful
in teaching advanced digital skills to people with no background in computer science. These coding
bootcamps offer a very new form of digital skills training and could be a resource for other types of
labour market training programmes (ITU, 2018).

Perhaps of equal importance is the development of soft skills (i.e. social and communication skills,
belief in one’s own capability, attitudes). We find evidence for this in the literature on aspirations and
in the entrepreneurship literature. In many countries, the sectors and occupations to which young

8
An example of such intervention was developed by the Tunisian National Employment Agency (ANETI). Its “Accompagnement”
intervention was implemented as part of the FORSATI programme of the Ministry of Employment (MFPE) in 2017. The in-
tervention comprised several steps, starting with collective and individual meetings between jobseeker and psychologists to
determine whether youth had any idea about their professional future. Jobseekers were then classified into three groups: (i)
young persons with no idea about their professional future, no view on the various options open to them and no idea how to
link up to the labour market; (ii) those with a vague idea of what they wanted to do as a job; and (iii) those with a clear idea
and the skills needed. The first group were to be supported by orientation counsellors in an individual trajectory, to help
the young person develop ideas about the future. This could involve discussion about a choice between wage work or en-
trepreneurship. This intervention was fundamentally about raising aspirations and broadening options. The second group
were to be assisted by counsellors to identify psychological and skills bottlenecks, implement a career plan and provide
additional training to loosen those constraints. This support helped aspirations to be achieved by generating pathways. A
last group was aided with job search assistance and training, introduction into professional networks, job search clubs and
business coaching (ANETI, 2016, Manuel de procedures Programme Forsati Composante Accompagnement, Tunis).

38
   ILO Working Paper 8

people aspire do not exist in sufficient quantities. If young people are going to be path-breaking and
create new opportunities where previously they did not exist, then soft skills will be a core component
of such endeavours.

Entrepreneurship education and promotion is another important policy domain in the alignment of youth
aspirations to labour markets when formal jobs are scarce. The entrepreneurial career is often one
overlooked by youth, or else not desired. Stevenson and Lundström (2007) describe how entrepreneur-
ship can be stimulated by (i) fostering people’s motivation to start a business, (ii) providing support for
entrepreneurial skills development and (iii) supporting entrepreneurial opportunity.

By motivating young people through entrepreneurship promotion efforts, including awards programmes,
entrepreneurship events and media campaigns to highlight the social value of entrepreneurship and
raise greater awareness of entrepreneurship as a career option, entrepreneurship can become an aspi-
rational (career) goal. Entrepreneurial skills development should be provided through the introduction
of entrepreneurship education in schools at the various levels of education, building entrepreneuri-
al know-how at a younger age. Employment policies can expand on this, relaxing the constraint that
a lack of skills and experience puts on young people. Facilitating business coaching and mentoring,
start-up guidance, business plan development support and access to business networks can all help
people gain the skills necessary to succeed. Finally, supporting the search for start-up and seed fund-
ing, incubators and other business development services can help young people take effective action.

X Box 7.1 Good practice example in positively influencing aspirations

Ganbina, Australia
Ganbina is Australia’s most successful indigenous school-to-work transition programme. It is founded on the belief that the exploration into
successful employment begins at a very young age and continues throughout adolescence. The complex and limited connection to family and
community can have a negative influence on youth’s educational attainment and further on in the future of their work. Among all underprivi-
leged youth in Australia, indigenous children are the most severely disadvantaged in both education and employment, with many hailing from
family backgrounds where long-term generational unemployment and welfare dependency are common. Because of this, these children lack
the positive role models and the support they need to build and achieve aspirations.
To help young generations build self-confidence and career aspirations, Ganbina adopted a unique approach in which a team of trained men-
tors supports indigenous youth from the ages of 6 to 25 years, to ensure they gain the education, skills and life experiences they need to unlock
their full potential. They work closely with the participants’ families, school teachers, vocational training organizations, universities, prospective
employers and indigenous groups, to deliver a variety of practical programmes which help the young participants get the best education, ex-
plore different career options, raise career aspirations and make a successful transition from study into employment.
Ganbina has helped many youth get accepted into university, with professional certificates in different fields. Seventy-six per cent of Ganbina
participants aged 25–34 are employed, versus 51 per cent nationally in Australia.
Taylah, a student at the University of Melbourne stated that “without Ganbina, I definitely would not be at university now. It made me realise I
could do it, and so that changed my life”, “They helped me get through high school, apply to uni, organize accommodation and scholarships to
help pay for my fees.”
Further information can be found: http://www.ganbina.com.au/

Role models in youth programmes. A recent study conducted into young people’s aspirations in Ghana
argues that “Aspiring is a skill that not all young people have developed and so needs to be taught by
youth programmes. Young people need to be encouraged to think about their future in a way that is
both realistic and stretches them” (Boateng and Lowe, 2018, p. 30). The social context in which aspi-
rations are shaped is indeed important and positive narratives, examples and role models with which
young people can identify should be considered in any intervention among aspirations-poor youth
(see, for example, the experience of Ganbina in Australia described in box 7.1). Labour market policies
benefit by having a holistic design that includes role models (who generate vicarious experiences) in
combination with skills developments and other career support interventions (e.g. financing schemes).
Programmes that provide experiential information on how to integrate into the labour market, and
have a financial scheme to aid in this, are more likely to elicit a positive response from its target pop-
ulation, as it helps visualize the different ways in which financial resources can be put to good use.

“Work is work, no matter the contractual arrangement.” This statement was made by representatives
from UNI Global Union during an interview with the authors who noted the rise in non-standard forms
of employment, a trend discussed in the literature in section 4. According to the UNI Global Union rep-
resentatives, this has at least two implications. First, “post WWII” social protection schemes are outdat-
ed; if people are working under temporary contracts, they should still have the right to social protection
(i.e. maternity leave, sick leave and retirement savings). Second, there may be a need to redefine what

39
  ILO Working Paper 8

constitutes work; does, for instance, care of next of kin or family qualify as work? There has been a rise
in the individualization of everything, from workers’ rights to student debt and market risk; perhaps
redistribution and collective rights are more valued by young people as a consequence? Employment
policies should address these questions in order to redefine work better and develop social protection
schemes that are more inclusive of the increasingly large group of people working in NSE.

Involve youth in the policy-making process. In discussion with UNI Global Union, they underscored the
need for the voices of diverse youth interest groups to be included in the policy-making process. This
harkens back to the initial impetus for research on the aspirations of youth. There is a sentiment held
by employers and the general public alike that the aspirations of millennials are somehow distinct and
different from those of previous generations. It is in order to better understand these differences,
should they exist, that research about youth is being conducted. It makes sense that the voices and
differences of opinion among youth be heard and incorporated, otherwise any attempt at analysis
could risk bias. If the right questions are not asked, or if questions are not asked in a way that makes
sense to the young people surveyed, the answers elicited are not going to provide meaningful input
for policy-making (or programme development) for youth.

40
  ILO Working Paper 8

X Appendix A: Overview of each survey

X Table A.1 ASEAN in transformation

Survey year(s) Number of coun- Target age group Number of respond- Restriction on sample population: explicit or de-
tries ents fault

June 2015 and 18–24 years University and technical and vocational education
Jan. 2016 10 (83.3% of sample) 2 747 and training students expected to graduate be-
tween 2015 and 2017

Survey objective: The ILO Bureau for Employers’ Activities designed this survey to explore the challenges, changing goals and needs facing the
ASEAN region’s new generation of workers and to further understand the dynamics of new technological trends in the region. The survey was
conducted by partners in the region. A survey of 4,000 enterprises in the region was also conducted, but in this report we focus on the survey
that targeted young students in the region (ILO, 2016, p. 1).

Mode of delivery: The students’ data were collected through an online survey.

Discussion of survey respondents: The respondents had to be students enrolled in either top-tier universities or vocational education and train-
ing. All students surveyed were expected to graduate between 2015 and 2017, and roughly 83 per cent of the respondents were between the
ages of 18 and 24 years. The report ASEAN in Transformation (ILO, 2016) provides detailed methodology about how top-tier universities were
selected. It is not clear how TVET institutions were selected.

Country coverage (10): Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore,
Thailand, Viet Nam.

X Table A.2 ASEAN Youth and the Future of Work

Survey year(s) Number of coun- Target age group Number of respondents Restriction on sample population: ex-
tries plicit or default

2018 6 Under 35 years 64 000 (42 000 completed) e-commerce or online game platform us-
ers

Survey objective: To gain insight about how youth in South-east Asia are feeling about their future employment prospects, the World Economic
Forum partnered with SEA (a Southeast Asian internet company), in order to survey younger generations in the region (WEF and SEA, 2018, p.
2).

Mode of delivery: Online only. The survey was run in partnership with SEA, one of South-East Asia’s leading internet companies. Users of Shopee
(an e-commerce platform) and Garena (an online games platform) across ASEAN were asked to fill in the survey online during July 2018.

Discussion of survey respondents: The respondents had to be 35 or younger and were mainly citizens of six ASEAN countries. Given the mode of
delivery (i.e. via online games and e-commerce platforms) one could assume a pro-technology bias in the responses vis-à-vis people not using
those platforms.

Country coverage (6): Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Viet Nam.

41
  ILO Working Paper 8

X Table A.3 Credit Suisse

Survey year(s) Number of countries Target age group Number of respondents Sample population: explicit
or default
April and May Youth in four countries with
2018 (eighth 4 16–25 years 4 021 access to the internet
since 2010)

Survey objective: Designed to gain insight and monitor young people’s lifestyles, communication styles, means of gathering information and
views (i.e. what is considered “in” and “out”) over time. The survey has been conducted annually in Brazil, Switzerland and the United States
since 2010 and in Singapore starting in 2013. The questionnaire was designed in Switzerland, but in order to ensure maximum comparability in
the other countries the questionnaire was reviewed by local experts and adapted to adjust for any cultural differences or different political cir-
cumstances in the countries.

Mode of delivery: Online questionnaire. In Switzerland the survey was conducted by gfs.bern polling service. Ag Knowledgetech was commis-
sioned to gather data in Brazil, Singapore and the United States.

Discussion of survey respondents: The survey collected 1,000 responses in Brazil, Singapore and the United States and 1,021 in Switzerland. The
2018 survey in Switzerland was weighted by language region and, “only a post-stratification weighting by age was additionally undertaken. In
the United States, Brazil and Singapore, quota sampling was used, so weighting is not necessary (Credit Suisse Youth Barometer, 2018).

While in these three countries internet penetration rates are generally high, there are big differences between the countries. The International
Telecommunications Unit (ITU, n.d.) reports the “Percentage of Individuals using the Internet” in the four countries in 2017 as follows: Brazil, 67
per cent; Singapore, 84 per cent; Switzerland, 94 per cent; United States, 75 per cent. These statistics are for the entire population, and while it
might be safe to assume that youth might have a higher percentage of access, especially in Brazil, there may be some youth whose voices are
not heard by this survey that was conducted exclusively online.

Country coverage (4): Brazil, Singapore, Switzerland, United States.

X Table A.4 Citi and Ipsos, Pathways to Progress Global Youth Survey

Survey year(s) Number of countries Target age group Number of respondents Restriction on sample popu-
lation: explicit or default
Nov. 2016 and 32 18–24 years 7 394 Youth in 45 cities with access
Jan. 2017 to the internet

Survey objective: Citi Foundation commissioned Ipsos to conduct a survey to gauge economic prospects and pursuits of young people in 32
countries in 45 cities spread globally (Citi Foundation and Ipsos, 2017, p. 2).

Mode of delivery: Online.

Discussion of survey respondents: The respondents are youth aged 18–24, located in 45 large cities in 32 countries with access to the internet.

Country coverage (32): Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia,
Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan,
Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam.

Cities surveyed in “Developed Markets”: Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Dubai, Hong Kong, Istanbul, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Miami,
Moscow, New York, San Francisco, Seoul, Singapore, St. Louis, Sydney, Taipei, Tampa/Jacksonville, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Toronto, Warsaw, Washington,
DC.

Cities surveyed in “Developing Markets”: Bangkok, Beijing, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Casablanca, Guadalajara, Ho Chi Minh, Jakarta, Johannesburg,
Kuala Lumpur, Lagos, Lima, Manila, Mexico City, Mumbai, Nairobi, New Delhi, Panama City, São Paulo, Shanghai. Data presented in the report
were weighted to the local population 18–24 according to gender, age, household income and in the United States, ethnicity.

42
  ILO Working Paper 8

X Table A.5 Deloitte Millennial Survey

Survey year(s) Number of countries Target age group Number of respondents Restriction on sample popu-
lation: explicit or default
Nov. 2017 and 36 23–34 years 10 455 University degree and em-
Jan. 2018 ployed full time

Survey objective: The Deloitte 2018 Millennial Survey is the seventh annual survey. It builds upon the 2017 survey to ask respondents about
their perceptions regarding changing opportunities and threats in world that is becoming more complex (Deloitte, 2018, p. 1).

Mode of delivery: Online questionnaire only. The report does not state how many questionnaires were distributed, or details about how respons-
es were solicited.

Discussion of survey respondents: The respondents were born between January 1983 and December 1994 and are university graduates working
full time. Respondents are predominantly employed in large private-sector companies.

Country coverage (36): Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy,
Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Singapore, South Africa,
Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, the Nordics (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden), Turkey, United Kingdom, United States.1

1
The Nordics were grouped together by Deloitte, as were Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. The number of responses from
the grouped countries were in line with the number of responses from countries listed individually.

X Table A.6 European Social Survey

Survey year(s) Number of countries Target age group Number of respondents Restriction on sample popu-
lation: explicit or default
2002–16 (every 23 in 2016 15 and older Varies by survey year and All persons 15 and over (no
2 years) question upper age limit)1

Survey objective: The European Social Survey (ESS) is a cross-national survey of attitudes and behaviour. (ESS website, available from: www.eu-
ropeansocialsurvey.org/about/faq.html)

Mode of delivery: Face-to-face computer-assisted personal interviews (CAPI) in all participating countries.

Discussion of survey respondents: Respondents 15 and older who are 1residents within private households, regardless of their nationality, cit-
izenship or language. According to the ESS website, all participating countries had to aim for a 70 per cent response rate and representative
sample with a minimum “effective achieved sample size” of 1,500 or 800 in countries with populations of under 2 million.

Country coverage (23 in 2016): Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania,
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom.

43
  ILO Working Paper 8

X Table A.7 Gallup

Survey year(s) Number of countries Target age group Number of respondents Restriction on population:
explicit or default

2016 150+  None1 Typically 1 000 per country Nationally representative

samples

Survey objective: The Gallup World Poll continually surveys residents in more than 150 countries. Gallup’s mission was to commit to collecting
and disseminating the opinions and aspirations of people around the globe is essential to understanding our world (Gallup, 2016, p. 189).

Mode of delivery: When telephone coverage is 80 per cent of the population or if telephone surveys are commonly used, a 30-minute survey
is conducted via telephone using random digit dialling (RDD). Face-to-face interviews that are about 1 hour long are conducted using an area
frame in Central and Eastern Europe, parts of Latin America, the former Soviet Union countries, nearly all of Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
Gallup weights the World Poll samples to match national demographics and correct for unequal selection probability, nonresponse, and double
coverage of landline and cellphone users when using both cellphone and landline frames.

Discussion of survey respondents: 1The respondents are said to be nationally representative and therefore there is no targeted youth age group
for the survey. It is also not possible to filter these responses by age using the online Gallup Analytics tool.

Country coverage (150+): A list of countries was not explicitly provided in the reports, or on the website.

X Table A.8 Global Citizen Survey – Varkey Foundation

Survey year(s) Number of countries Target age group Number of respondents Restriction on population:
explicit or default

Sep. and Oct. Generation Z. Respondents

2016 20 15–21 years 20 088 who are members of global
online research panels

Survey objective: To collect information about the attitudes, behaviours and experiences of Generation Z in 20 countries to capture an overview
of their hopes, values and wellbeing (Broadbent et al., 2017, p. 1).

Mode of delivery: Members of global online research panels were emailed invitations to take part in the survey. The survey was not compulsory,
but participants were financially compensated for their time if they took part in the survey.

Discussion of survey respondents: Respondents are a sub-age-group of youth (Generation Z) and are members of global online research panels.
There is potential for bias, since there may be a selection issue for youth who are members of online research panels. Youth without access to
the internet will naturally be excluded, due to the mode of delivery.

Country coverage (20): Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria,
Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States.

44
  ILO Working Paper 8

X Table A.9 Global Shapers Survey (World Economic Forum)

Survey year(s) Number of countries Target age group Number of respondents Restriction on sample popu-
lation: explicit or default
March–June 2017 191 18–35 years 24 766 Youth aged 18–35 

Survey objective: The Global Shapers Survey aims to capture the views and values of millennials worldwide: (1) how young people see the world
(perception); and (2) what they want to do about it (action) (Global Shapers, 2017, pp. 5–6).

Mode of delivery: The survey was conducted in cities and mostly online by survey affiliates. Offline surveys were conducted in some cities and
workshops were set up to increase access. The survey was available in 14 languages.

Discussion of survey respondents: Respondents are youth aged 18–35.

Country coverage (190): Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria,
Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cayman Islands, Central
African Republic (CAR), Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo-Brazzaville, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Curacao, Cyprus,
Czechia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia,
Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guam, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana,
Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan,
Kenya, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia (Federated
States of), Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar (Burma), Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger,
Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Republic
of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sao
Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sint Maarten (Dutch part), Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia,
South Africa, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, State of Palestine, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Taiwan,
Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom,
United Republic of Tanzania, United States, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Viet Nam, the Occupied Territories of West
Bank and Gaza, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

X Table A.10 ILO Survey on Youth and the Future of Work

Survey year(s) Number of countries Target age group Number of respondents Restriction on sample popu-
lation: explicit or default

2 300 (1 700 were retained Youth with access to the ILO’s

April–June 2017 187 15–29 years as valid responses) Decent Work for Youth plat-
form

Survey objective: Collect and link information about young people’s attitudes and aspirations to the actual employment situation of respond-
ents (ILO, 2017b, p. 1).

Mode of delivery: Online, via ILO’s Decent Work for Youth platform via youth-led organizations with a focus on young activists from workers and
employer’s organizations. Available in four languages: English, French, Spanish and Arabic.

Discussion of survey respondents: Respondents are between the ages of 15 and 29 with access to the ILO’s Decent work for Youth platform.

Country coverage (187): A list of countries was not explicitly provided in the reports.

45
  ILO Working Paper 8

X Table A.11 Ipsos and Gates Foundation Goalkeepers Global Youth Outlook Poll

Survey year(s) Number of countries Target age group Number of respondents Sample population: explicit
or default
Between 9 July 12–15 years (12–17 years in 40 506 (7 152 youth and Ipsos claims representa-
and 22 August 15 three countries) 33 354 “adults”) tive samples in nine of the 15
2018 countries1

Survey objective: To ask people about their outlook regarding their personal lives, their communities’ challenges, and in which direction they
think their country is headed.
Mode of delivery: In 12 of the 15 countries, the survey was conducted online. In three countries (India, Kenya and Nigeria), interviews were con-
ducted face-to-face.

Discussion of survey respondents: Ipsos states that: 1“In 6 of the 12 countries where interviewing was done online, internet penetration is suffi-
ciently high to think of the samples as representative of the wider population within the age ranges covered: Australia, France, Germany, Great
Britain, Sweden and the U.S. The three face-to-face countries are also nationally representative. Brazil, China, Mexico, Russia, Indonesia and
Saudi Arabia have lower levels of internet penetration and so these samples should not be considered fully nationally representative, but in-
stead to represent a more affluent, connected population. These are still a vital social group to understand in these countries, representing an
important and emerging middle class” (Ipsos and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 2018).

The majority of respondents to this survey are classified by Ipsos as “adults”, which they define as 16+ in all countries except the United States
where it 18+. Around 500 respondents per country are youth, except in Saudi Arabia where around 200 respondents are youth. In most coun-
tries ISPOS considers youth to be ages 12–15, but in the United States, Kenya and Nigeria youth are defined as 12–17.

Country coverage (15): Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia,
Sweden, United Kingdom, United States.

X Table A.12 MY World Survey

Survey year(s) Number of countries Target age group Number of respondents Restriction on sample popu-
lation: explicit or default

2015 194 Any (possible to filter 16–30) 9 736 484 (5 274 181 are None 
16–30)

Survey objective: To engage citizens via a global survey to include citizens voices in official debates about the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) for the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Survey results (or “votes”) about priorities are meant to inform leaders (see United Nations,
2012, 2015).

Mode of delivery: MY World 2015 Survey had over 1,000 partners who worked to bring in votes from all countries and regions of the world. Votes
were collected online, via text (SMS) or ballot and 80 per cent of the votes were collected offline. It was an honour system to vote only once.

Discussion of survey respondents: Respondents could be any age, although it is possible to filter the data by age group.

Country coverage (194): Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan,
Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic,
Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czechia, Democratic People's Republic of
Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea,
Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-
Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan,
Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia
(Federated States of), Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand,
Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland,
Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent
and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, State of Palestine, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden,
Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu,
Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela
(Bolivarian Republic of), Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

46
  ILO Working Paper 8

X Table A.13 PwC Millennials at work – Reshaping the workplace

Survey year(s) Number of countries Target age group Number of respondents Restriction on sample popu-
lation: explicit or default

August–October 75 (most of the sample Graduated between 2008 and

2011 is from 24 listed coun- 31 or under 4 364 2011. Most respondents were
tries) PwC recruits or employees

Survey objective: To provide insight into how recent graduates who are entering the workplace for the first time think about work, and how tech-
nology, globalization and other changes might affect how future businesses will operate (PwC, 2011, p. 2).

Mode of delivery: Online only. PwC commissioned Opinium Research to carry out the online survey.

Discussion of survey respondents: The sample of respondents is limited mostly to PwC recruits or employees. “PwC” refers to the network
of member firms of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited (PwCIL); 1,706 of respondents were PwC graduate recruits or responded
through PwC’s website. Overall, 1,470 PwC employees and 2,894 other graduates responded to the survey. The majority (75 per cent) of the re-
spondents were employed or about to start a new job at the time they filled in the questionnaire. Very few (8 per cent) were unemployed. The
rest were self-employed or returning to full-time education. Respondents were 31 or younger in 2011, but must have graduated between 2008
and 2011, so that provides a lower bound for the age of the respondents (assuming the vast majority of university graduates are 21 or older).

Country coverage (75, but most respondents are from the following 24 countries): Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany,
Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey,
United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States; “Other countries (<30)”.1
1
“Other countries <30” is excerpted from a bar chart showing responses per country in the report. It is assumed that this
means less than 30 responses were from each country not explicitly named in the report.

X Table A.14 School to Work Transition Survey (SWTS)

Survey year(s) Number of countries Target age group Number of respondents Restriction on sample popu-
lation: explicit or default
2012–15 32 15–29 years 99 745 Young people aged 15–291

Survey objective: To collect labour market information on young people and background characteristics of those young people, and to identify
features of labour market demand in developing countries (ILO, n.d.).

Mode of delivery: Implemented through individual countries’ National Statistics Office (NSO).

Discussion of survey respondents: Respondents are nationally representative of youth aged 15–29, 1except in Colombia and El Salvador, where
only urban areas are covered, and Brazil, where the data cover only 10 regions. The SWTS methodology module offered a variety of sampling
strategies for participating countries to achieve nationally representative samples of youth aged 15–29.

Country coverage (32): Armenia, Bangladesh, Benin, Brazil, Cambodia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Jamaica, Jordan,
Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Montenegro, Nepal, North Macedonia, Peru, Republic of Moldova, Democratic Republic of
the Congo, Russian Federation, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Uganda, Ukraine, United Republic of Tanzania, Viet Nam, the Occupied Territories of
West Bank and Gaza Strip, Zambia.

47
  ILO Working Paper 8

X Table A.15 UNDP Armenia 2012 National Youth Aspirations Research Report

Survey year(s) Number of countries Target age group Number of respondents Restriction on sample popu-
lation: explicit or default

2012 1 16–30 years 1 204 16–30-year-olds living in

Armenia

Survey objective: To identify the aspirations and expectations of young people in Armenia, as well as their beliefs about the political, social and
cultural life in Armenia (UNDP, 2012, p. 4).

Mode of delivery: 64 polling points, quantitative (semi-) structured face-to-face interviews with 16–30-year-olds and focus groups.

Discussion of survey respondents: Respondents are nationally representative of youth 16–30 years of age living in Armenia in 2012 (with a 2.9
per cent margin of error). A multi-stage sampling strategy was used.

Country coverage (1): Armenia.

X Table A.16 World Values Survey

Survey year(s) Number of coun- Target age group Number of re- Restriction on sample population: ex-
tries spondents plicit or default
Sixth wave (2010– 60 18+ (possible to cross-tab answers 89 565 Nationally representative sample (no
14) for ages 18–29) upper age limit) 

Survey objective: A better understanding of global changes in values and beliefs, cultural norms and their stability or change over in different
societies around the world (WVS Association, n.d.a).

Mode of delivery: Mainly face-to-face interview at respondent’s home or place of residence. Respondent’s answers could be recorded in a paper
questionnaire or by CAPI.

Discussion of survey respondents: Respondents are nationally representative. Each country devised its own sampling strategy (more detailed in-
formation about sampling can be found at WVS Association, n.d.b.

Country coverage (60): Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Cyprus, Chile, China, Ecuador, Egypt,
Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Haiti, Hong Kong, India, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia,
Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian
Federation, Rwanda, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, State of Palestine, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia,
Turkey, Ukraine, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Zimbabwe.

48
  ILO Working Paper 8

X Table A.17 Young Lives: An International Study of Childhood Poverty, Round 4

Survey year(s) Number of countries Target age group Number of respondents Restriction on sample popu-
lation: explicit or default
2013–14 (Round 4 19 years 3 382 Over-sample poor children/
4) youth

Survey objective: Tracing the changing lives of 12,000 children over 15 years. The core research questions are about causes of poverty, its con-
sequences, and means of inter-generational transmission (WB/ODID UK Guide to Young Lives Research, 2017).

Mode of delivery: Implemented by fieldwork teams who have undergone training, many fieldworkers worked with Young Lives for more than one
round of fieldwork.

Discussion of survey respondents: The respondents are 19 years of age, but 12-year-olds are also surveyed in wave 4. The Young Lives survey
has not been designed to be nationally representative, but rather to gain sufficient data for statistical analysis. Sentinel sites were selected
non-randomly and rich areas were excluded. Children or youth in the right age range in the selected sites were sampled randomly. http://www.
younglives.org.uk/sites/www.younglives.org.uk/files/GuidetoYLResearch-S5-Sampling.pdf

The child (or youth) questionnaire is complemented by a household questionnaire and a community questionnaire. It is a longitudinal study.

Country coverage (4): Ethiopia, India, Peru, Viet Nam.

X Table A.18 Youth Speak: Global Youth Movement and Youth Insight Survey. (AIESEC)

Survey year(s) Number of countries Target age group Number of respondents Restriction on sample popu-
lation: explicit or default
Launched on 9 Unknown 16–30 (small percentage of re- 160 231 None 
October 2015 sponses younger or older)

Survey objective: Created by youth for youth, the survey is designed to ascertain what young people (globally) care about and gain insight into
how they would like to be engaged (AIESEC, 2016, p. 8).

Mode of delivery: Not explicitly stated. Based on the YouthSpeak website (https://aiesec.org/youth-speak), it is assumed to be an online survey.

Discussion of survey respondents: The respondents are youth from different regions around the world. It is difficult to find detailed information
about how the survey responses were solicited.

Country coverage (unknown): A list of countries was not explicitly provided in the reports. Regional data are presented in the preliminary results
report as follows: Asia Pacific (57,959 respondents), Central and Eastern Europe (32,704 respondents), Latin America (25,974 respondents),
Africa (16,393 respondents), Western Europe and North America (14,566), Middle East and North Africa (12,635 respondents).

49
   ILO Working Paper 8

X Appendix B: Examples of survey questions

X Table B.1 Examples of survey questions that measure the “goal” dimension of aspirations

Dimension meas- Survey question Results presented Source(s)

ured
What type of organization do you work for today? What type of organ- Report: Region and coun- ASEAN Y&FoW
ization would you like to work for in the future? try
In which economic sector would you ideally want to work when choos- Report: Gender, education ASEAN Transform
ing your first employment? level and field of study
If you had your preference, in which of the following would you prefer Data available and online World Values
to work? analytical tool
Could you please tell me the most important goal in your life? Data available SWTS
Ideally, which of the following type of work would you prefer? Data available SWTS
Ideally, in which sector do you want to work? Data available SWTS
Each individual person has certain ideas that determine their life and
Aspired goals behaviour. When you think about what you strive for in your life, how Report Credit Suisse
important are the following things for you personally?
What company would you like to work for the most, what would be Report Credit Suisse
your dream?

If you could have any job in the world, what would you want to do? Report and tables Ipsos/Gates
Foundation
What field would you most like to have a career in? Report Citi and Ipsos
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? My dream is Report Citi and Ipsos
to own my own business
Survey asked children (between 7 and 11 years old) to draw what they Education and
want to be when they get older and where they heard about that job Report Employers
(i.e. parents or someone else)

Source: Own elaboration using the questionnaires from the different survey instruments cited. Questions and answers are
excerpted verbatim.

X Table B.2 Examples of response choices that reflect different frameworks used to classify jobs

Survey question Answer choices Source(s)

What type of organization do you work for For a charity or social enterprise, start-up company, small and medium enter-
today? What type of organization would prise, big local company, my family business, foreign multinational company, for ASEAN Y&FoW
you like to work for in the future? myself
In which economic sector would you ideally ICT services, Financial or insurance services, Manufacturing, Education, ASEAN
want to work when choosing your first em- RetailArts, entertainment or recreation, Human health or social work, Transform
ployment? Construction, Hotels or restaurants, Scientific or technical research, Other
If you had your preference, in which of the (1) To work as an employee in the public sector, (2) To work as an employee in World Values
following would you prefer to work? the private sector, (3) To be self-employed
(1) Being successful in work, (2) Making a contribution to society, (3)
Could you please tell me the most impor- Participating in local community affairs, (4) Upholding religious faith, (5) Having
tant goal in your life? lots of money, (6) Having a good family life, (7) Having leisure time, (8) Having SWTS
a lot of different experiences, (9) Finding purpose and meaning in life, (10)
Building self-esteem and confidence, and finding personal fulfilment
(1) Start your own business, (2) Work for the government/public sector, (3) Work
Ideally, which of the following type of work for a multinational corporation, (4) Work for a private company, (5) Work for
would you prefer? a non-profit organization (6) Work for own/family farm, (7) Work for someone SWTS
else’s farm, (8) Work for family business, (9) Not sure, (10) Do not wish to work,
(11) Happy with current type of business/would not change, (12) Other
(1) Agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing, (2) Mining, (3) Manufacturing, (4)
Electricity, gas and water supply, (5) Construction, (6) Wholesale and retail
trade, repair, (7) Hotels and restaurants, (8) Transport, storage and communica-
Ideally, in which sector do you want to tions, (9) Finance/insurance, (10) Real estate, renting and business activities, (11) SWTS
work? Public administration and defence, (12) Education, (13) Health and social work,
(14) Other community, social and personal services, (15) Private household ser-
vice, (16) Happy with current sector/would not change, (17) Not sure, (18) Do not
wish to work, (19) Other

50
   ILO Working Paper 8

Survey question Answer choices Source(s)

Respondents could rate each response choice as either “extremely important”,
“very important”, “fairly important”, “not that important”, “not important”, “not
important at all”, “don’t know/no comment” to the following: honesty, having
friends I can count on, loyalty, balancing leisure time and a career, having an ex-
Each individual person has certain ide- citing job, enjoying life to the full, being respected as a person, getting a good
as that determine their life and behaviour. education and/or further training, tolerance, living and acting responsibly, living
When you think about what you strive for in healthy, protecting the environment, being independent of other people, seeing Credit Suisse
your life, how important are the following as much of the world as possible, achieving set goals with hard work, having a
things for you personally? family with children, imagination/creativity, helping disadvantaged people/work
for charity, having a good career, gaining sexual experiences, to move the world
with my actions, living according to my religious/spiritual values, being my own
boss/being independent, having lots of money, looking good and being popular,
being committed politically, living life in the city, having an interesting personal
online profile
From the report, it seems that the respondent listed the company itself and
then the analysts aggregated responses to sector (in Switzerland they report
What company would you like to work for the percentage of 16–25-year-olds who prefer the following sectors: Agriculture, Credit Suisse
the most, what would be your dream? Banking, Commerce, Construction, Crafts business, Government, Health, IT/tech
sector, Luxury goods, Media, NGO/charity, Pharmaceuticals, Show business/cul-
ture, Teaching and education, Tourism/travel, Watches)
The list of job options was ~85 different choices. These are the jobs that re-
If you could have any job in the world, what ceived the top responses (as summarized in the report): Doctor, Engineer, Ipsos/Gates
would you want to do? Teacher, Lawyer, Business owner or entrepreneur, Pilot, Technology, Nurse, Foundation
Football player, Gamer, Veterinarian, Actor or model, Military personnel
Journalist, Director or manager

What field would you most like to have a Technology or Science, Arts or Entertainment, Professional Activities, Health
career in? Care, Government, Education, Internet Startup, Sales or Retail, Service, Citi and Ipsos
Construction or Manufacturing, Transportation
Do you agree or disagree with the follow-
ing statement? My dream is to own my own Assumed response choice (yes/no) Citi and Ipsos
business
Survey asked kids (between 7- and
11-years-old) to draw what they want to be The first question is open ended, the children can draw anything they want. The Education and
when they get older and where they heard survey asked a series of questions about how they heard about the job they Employers
about that job (i.e. parents or someone drew (i.e. parents or other relative; TV, internet, or social media)
else)

Source: Own elaboration using the questionnaires from the different survey instruments cited. Questions and answers are
excerpted verbatim.

X Table B.3 Examples of survey questions that measure desired/valued job characteristics

Dimension measured Survey question Results presented Source(s)

What characteristics would your ideal job have? Report Y&FoW ILO
In general, how important are the following aspects when
you are considering working at an organization? Please se- Report: aggregate Deloitte Mil
lect each in order of their importance to you, from most im-
portant to least important
What are your most important criteria when considering job Data and report  G. Shapers
opportunities?
When thinking about your current or future career, which  Report Global Citizen
ONE of the following is the most important?
Which of the following work priorities would you currently  Report ASEAN Transform
Desired/preferred job prefer to choose?
characteristics
How important are the following factors in an employer? Report Credit Suisse
You will see two companies that differ in various ways.
Please select the company you like best. Scenario based
question: “Respondents were presented with 2 fictional
companies each with 5 different characteristics (random-
ly assigned between 3 options) along the following dimen- Report Credit Suisse
sions (economic, social, environmental, critical, and one in
relation to the type of company). Young people then had to
select the company they like best” (paraphrased from the
Credit Suisse report).
Which of the following factors most influenced your deci- Report  PwC
sion to accept your current job?

Source: Own elaborations using the questionnaires from the different survey instruments cited. Questions and answers are
excerpted verbatim.

51
   ILO Working Paper 8

X Table B.4. Examples of survey questions that measure expectations, probability of fulfilling aspirations and perceived ob-
stacles to job prospects

Dimension measured Survey question Results presented Source(s)

Where do you see yourself 10 years from now? (sector of Report YouthSpeak AIESEC
work)
What best describes your current work and what are your Report Y&FoW ILO
expectations for [ten years in] the future?
How do you envision your future work life? Report Y&FoW ILO
In your opinion, what is the outlook for your own future? At Report Credit Suisse
the present time, do you see the future …
Expectations
Looking forward, do you think you will work ...? Report PwC
Do you feel that you will be able to rise to the most senior Report PwC
levels with your current employer?
How many employers do you expect to have in your career? Report PwC
Employment-related plans for the upcoming 3 years Report UNDP (Armenia)
Plans for further education by place of residence Report UNDP (Armenia)
Dimension measured Survey question Results presented Source(s)
Perceived chances of Estimates of the probability of fulfilment of their top goals Report UNDP (Armenia)
fulfilling aspirations by the young people in the upcoming three years
Dimension measured Survey question Results presented Source(s)
What are your biggest concerns about your job prospects Data and report G. Shapers
when you apply for a new job?
Obstacles/lack of path- What would make it easier to find a job? Report Citi and Ipsos
ways or opportunity
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? The Report Citi and Ipsos
education I want to achieve is beyond my financial means

Source: Own elaborations using the questionnaires from the different survey instruments cited. Questions and answers are
excerpted verbatim.

X Table B.5 Examples of survey questions that measure assessment of opportunities (pathways)

Dimension measured Survey question Results presented Source(s)

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? You Report Citi and Ipsos
need a university education to be successful
What do you see as the biggest benefit to studying in uni- Report YouthSpeak AIESEC
versity/college?
In your opinion, a person needs at least what level of educa- Data available SWTS
tion/training to get a decent job these days?
Which of the following qualities do you think is the most Data available SWTS
useful in finding a good job? (select one)
To what extent do you agree with the following statements
about work, education and training? 5 choices on a Likert Report Credit Suisse
Assessment of opportu- scale (completely agree, tend to agree, don't know/no com-
nities (pathways) ment, don't tend to agree, don't agree at all)
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
Apprenticeships or internships are critical for career suc- Report Citi and Ipsos
cess
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
There are not enough apprenticeships or internships in my Report Citi and Ipsos
city
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Report Citi and Ipsos
New or small businesses are not likely to succeed in my city
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? My Report Citi and Ipsos
dream is to own my own business

Source: Own elaborations using the questionnaires from the different survey instruments cited. Questions and answers are
excerpted verbatim.

52
   ILO Working Paper 8

X Table B.6 Examples of survey questions that measure perceptions of technology

Dimension measured Survey question Results presented Source(s)

Do you think that new technologies will create or destroy Report: regional Y&FoW ILO
more jobs?
Percent of respondents who have used online training and Report ASEAN Y&FoW
education courses
Percent of respondents who think technology will increase Report ASEAN Y&FoW
the number of jobs
Percent of respondents who think that technology will in- Report ASEAN Y&FoW
crease or reduce their earning power
What impact, if any, do you think Industry 4.0 might have Report: aggregate Deloitte Mil
on your job?
In your opinion technology is … [creating or destroying Data and report G. Shapers
jobs]
The services listed above are all part of the sharing econo-
my. Sharing economy refers to the communal use of goods
through sharing, swapping, lending, hiring or giving. The Report Credit Suisse
motto of the sharing economy is ‘using instead of owning’.
Would you rate the sharing economy as being more nega-
Perceptions of technolo- tive (0) or positive (10) for you personally?
gy and jobs
The sharing economy operates in particular via internet
platforms or apps which are used for swapping and shar-
ing things with others or for the communal use of items. Report Credit Suisse
Examples include Airbnb, RelayRides and Sharoo. Have you
personally used a sharing economy service via an internet
platform or app?
On an average day, how long do you use the following me-
dia for personal use? Please only list the approximate times Report Credit Suisse
in minutes per day for which you are active – (reading, view-
ing or writing entries yourself)
More emphasis on the development of technology (possi-
ble answers, excerpted from the codebook, range from “is a World Values
good thing” to “is a bad thing”)
Science and technology are making our lives healthier, easi- Data available and on-
er, and more comfortable line analytical tool World Values

Because of science and technology, there will be more op- World Values
portunities for the next generation
Where do you see the use of technology most? Report YouthSpeak AIESEC

Source: Own elaborations using the questionnaires from the different survey instruments cited. Questions and answers are
excerpted verbatim.

53
   ILO Working Paper 8

X Table B.7 Examples of survey questions that measure general perceptions/beliefs about the world

Dimension measured Survey question Results presented Source(s)

Thinking about your future please indicate what you think Report Global Citizen
is the most and least important to you from the list below?
We have put together a list of very different things in life.
Please judge whether these things are “in” or “out” in your Report Credit Suisse
personal circles and also what your own opinion of them is
Taking everything into account do you expect the overall
economic situation in (your country) to improve, worsen or Report Deloitte Mil
stay the same over the next 12 months?
Taking everything into account do you expect the overall Report Deloitte Mil
social/political situation in (your country) to improve
Thinking about the world in general how do you feel about
the future? Compared to your parents do you think you will Report Deloitte Mil
be financially/materially better off
General perceptions/be- Thinking about the world in general how do you feel about
liefs about the world the future? Compared to your parents do you think you will Report Deloitte Mil
be happier
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement ... Report and tables Ipsos/Gates Foundation
My generation is better off than my parents were
In your opinion, what are the most serious issues affecting Data and report G. Shapers
the world today?
Welfare attitudes (many questions) Data ESS
Which of these are most important for you and your family? Website (myAnalytics) MyWorld
(Choose 6 issues that matter most)
To what extent do the following make you hopeful of the fu-
ture?
Report Global Citizen
To what extent do the following make you fearful for the fu-
ture?

Source: Own elaboration using the questionnaires from the different survey instruments cited. Questions and answers are
excerpted verbatim.

54
  ILO Working Paper 8

X Literature list (by section and sub-section)

3 The concept and determinants of aspirations

3.1 Understanding aspirations

Appadurai, A. 2004. “The capacity to aspire: Culture and the terms of recognition”, in V. Rao and M.
Walton (eds): Culture and public action (Stanford, CA, Stanford University Press).

Bandura, A. 1977. Social learning theory (Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice-Hall).

—. 1993. “Perceived self-efficacy in cognitive development and functioning”, in Educational Psychologist,

Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 117–148.

—; Locke, E. 2003. “Negative self-efficacy and goal effects revisited”, in The Journal of Applied Psychology,
Vol. 88, No. 1, pp. 87–99.

Bertrand, M.; Mullainathan, S.; Shafir, E. 2004. “A behavioral economics view of poverty”, in American
Economic Review, Vol. 94, No. 2, pp. 419–423.

Dalton, P.; Ghosal, S.; Mani, A. 2016. “Poverty and aspirations failure”, in The Economic Journal, Vol.
126, No. 590, pp. 165–188.

Drèze, J.; Sen, A. 2002. India: Development and participation, 2nd edition (Oxford, Oxford University Press).

Lewin, K. 1936. Principles of topological psychology (New York, McGraw Hill).

Locke, E.; Latham, G. 2002. “Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A
35-year odyssey”, in American Psychologist, Vol. 57, No. 9, pp. 705–717.

Lybbert, T.J.; Wydick, B. 2018. “Poverty, aspirations, and the economics of hope”, in Economic Development
and Cultural Change, Vol. 66, No. 4, pp. 709–753.

Ray, D. 2006. “Aspirations, poverty and economic change”, in A.V. Banerjee, R. Bénabou and D. Mookherjee
(eds): Understanding poverty (Oxford, Oxford University Press).

Robeyns, I. 2016. “Capabilitarianism”, in Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Vol. 17, No.
3, pp. 397–414.

Sen, A. 1985. “Well-being, agency and freedom: The Dewey lectures 1984”, in The Journal of Philosophy,
Vol. 82, No. 4, pp. 169–221.

Snyder, C.R. 2002. “Hope theory: Rainbows in the mind”, in Psychological Inquiry, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp.
249–275.

3.2 What shapes aspirations?

Appadurai, A. 2004. “The capacity to aspire: Culture and the terms of recognition”, in V. Rao and M.
Walton (eds): Culture and public action (Stanford, CA, Stanford University Press).

Beal, S.J.; Crockett, L.J. 2010. “Adolescents’ occupational and educational aspirations and expectations:
Links to high school activities and adult educational attainment”, in Developmental Psychology, Vol.
46, No. 1, pp. 258–265.

Beaman, L.; Duflo, E.; Pande, R.; Topalova, P. 2012. “Female leadership raises aspirations and educa-
tional attainment for girls: A policy experiment in India”, in Science, Vol. 335, No. 6068, pp. 582–586.

Bernard, T.; Taffesse, A.S. 2014. “Aspirations: An approach to measurement with validation using Ethiopian
data”, in Journal of African Economies, Vol. 23, pp. 189–224.

55
  ILO Working Paper 8

—.; Dercon, S.; Orkin, K.; Taffesse, A.S. 2014. The future in mind: Aspirations and forward-looking behav-
iour in rural Ethiopia, CSAE Working Paper 2014-16 (Oxford, Centre for the Study of African Economies).
Available at: www.csae.ox.ac.uk/materials/papers/csae-wps-2014-16.pdf [17 June 2020].

Bogliacino, F.; Ortoleva, P. 2013. The behavior of others as a reference point. Columbia Business School
Research Paper No. 13-55. Available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2292011##
[17 June 2020].

Chiapa, C.; Garrido, J.L.; Prina, S. 2012. “The effect of social programs and exposure to professionals on
the educational aspirations of the poor”, in Economics of Education Review, Vol. 31, No. 5, pp. 778–798.

Dalton, P.; Ghosal, S.; Mani, A. 2016. “Poverty and aspirations failure”, in The Economic Journal, Vol.
126, No. 590, pp. 165–188.

Favara, M. 2017. “Do dreams come true? Aspirations and educational attainments of Ethiopian boys
and girls”, in Journal of African Economies, Vol. 26, No. 5, pp. 561–583.

Goodman, A.; Gregg, P.; Washbrook, E. 2011. “Children’s educational attainment and the aspirations,
attitudes and behaviours of parents and children through childhood”, in Longitudinal and Life Course
Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 1–18.

Gorard, S.; See, B.H.; Davies, P. 2012. The impact of attitudes and aspirations on educational attainment
and participation (York, Joseph Rowntree Foundation).

Knight, J.; Gunatilaka, R. 2012. “Income, aspirations and the hedonic treadmill in a poor society”, in
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Vol. 82, No. 1, pp. 67–81.

Lin, K.S.; Cheng, Y.Y.; Chen, Y.L.; Wu, Y.Y. 2009. “Longitudinal effects of educational expectations and
achievement attributions on adolescents’ academic achievement”, in Adolescence, Vol. 44, No. 176,
pp. 911–924.

Liu, L. 2009. From educational aspirations to college enrollment: A road with many paths, disserta-
tion, University of Southern California. Available at: http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/
p15799coll127/id/262706 [18 June 2020].

Lowe, G.; Krahn, H. 2000. “Work aspirations and attitudes in an era of labour market restructuring: A
comparison of two Canadian youth cohorts”, in Work, Employment and Society, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 1–22.

Nguyen, T. 2008. Information, role models and perceived returns to education: Experimental evidence
from Madagascar, working paper (Cambridge, MA, Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Available
at: www.povertyactionlab.org/sites/default/files/documents/Nguyen%202008.pdf [17 June 2020].

O’Higgins, N.; Stimolo, M. 2015. Youth unemployment and social capital: An experimental approach,
STYLE Working Papers WP9.2. Available at: www.style-research.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/D_9_2_
The_impact_of_youth_unemployment_on_social_capital_FINAL.pdf [17 June 2020].

Ray, D. 2006. “Aspirations, poverty and economic change”, in A.V. Banerjee, R. Bénabou and D. Mookherjee
(eds): Understanding poverty (Oxford, Oxford University Press).

Riley, E. 2018. Role models in movies: The impact of Queen of Katwe on students’ educational attain-
ment, CSAE Working Paper WPS/2017-13 (Oxford, Centre for the Study of African Economies). Available
at: www.csae.ox.ac.uk/materials/papers/csae-wps-2017-13.pdf [17Jun 2020].

Ross, P. 2016. The aspirations gap and human capital investment: Evidence from Indian adolescents
(Oxford, Centre for the Study of African Economies). Available at: https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/
conference/download.cgi?db_name=CSAE2017&paper_id=692) [17 June 2020].

Schoon, I.; Parsons, S. 2002. “Teenage aspirations for future careers and occupational outcomes”, in
Journal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 60, No. 2, pp. 262–288.

56
  ILO Working Paper 8

Stutzer, A. 2004. “The role of income aspirations in individual happiness”, in Journal of Economic Behavior
& Organization, Vol. 54, No. 1, pp. 89–109.

Trautmann, S.T.; Vieider, F.M. 2012. “Social influences on risk attitudes: Applications in economics”, in S.
Roeser, R. Hillerbrand, P. Sandin and M. Peterson (eds): Handbook of risk theory (Dordrecht, Springer),
pp. 575–600.

3.3 The malleability of aspirations through policy interventions

Beaman, L.; Duflo, E.; Pande, R.; Topalova, P. 2012. “Female leadership raises aspirations and educa-
tional attainment for girls: A policy experiment in India”, in Science, Vol. 335, No. 6068, pp. 582–586.

Bernard, T.; Dercon, S.; Orkin, K.; Taffesse, A.S. 2014. The future in mind: Aspirations and forward-look-
ing behaviour in rural Ethiopia, CSAE Working Paper 2014-16 (Oxford, Centre for the Study of African
Economies). Available at: www.csae.ox.ac.uk/materials/papers/csae-wps-2014-16.pdf [17 June 2020].

Boateng, E.S.; Löwe, A. 2018. Aspirations matter: What young people in Ghana think about work (London,
Overseas Development Institute). Available at: www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/resource-docu-
ments/12335.pdf [17 June 2020].

Chiapa, C.; Garrido, J.L.; Prina, S. 2012. “The effect of social programs and exposure to professionals on
the educational aspirations of the poor”, in Economics of Education Review, Vol. 31, No. 5, pp. 778–798.

Favara, M. 2017. “Do dreams come true? Aspirations and educational attainments of Ethiopian boys
and girls”, in Journal of African Economies, Vol. 26, No. 5, pp. 561–583.

García, S.; Harker, A.; Cuartas, J. 2016. “Building dreams: The impact of a conditional cash transfer pro-
gram on educational aspirations in Colombia”, Documentos de Trabajo Escuela de Gobierno Alberto
Lleras Camargo, No. 30 (Bogotá). Available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_
id=2927139 [17 June 2020].

Glewwe, P.; Ross, P.H.; Wydick, B. 2015. International child sponsorship and the development of edu-
cational and vocational aspirations: Multinational evidence, unpublished working paper (University of
Minnesota).

Heckman, J.J.; Kautz, T. 2012. “Hard evidence on soft skills”, in Labour Economics, Vol. 19, No. 4, pp.
451–464.

—; Stixrud, J.; Urzua, S. 2006. The effects of cognitive and noncognitive abilities on labour market out-
comes and social behavior, National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 12006 (Cambridge,
MA, NBER). Available at: www.nber.org/papers/w12006.pdf [17 June 2020].

Kosec, K.; Mo, C.H. 2017. “Aspirations and the role of social protection: Evidence from a natural disas-
ter in rural Pakistan”, in World Development, Vol. 97, pp. 49–66.

Macours, K.; Vakis, R. 2014. “Changing households’ investment behaviour through social interactions
with local leaders: Evidence from a randomised transfer programme”, in Economic Journal, Vol. 124,
No. 576, pp. 607–733.

Ross, P. 2016. The aspirations gap and human capital investment: Evidence from Indian adolescents
(Oxford, Centre for the Study of African Economies). Available at: https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/
conference/download.cgi?db_name=CSAE2017&paper_id=692) [17 June 2020].

—; Glewwe, P.; Prudencio, D.; Wydick, B. 2018. Developing educational and vocational aspirations through
international child sponsorship: Evidence from Kenya, Indonesia, and Mexico (University of Minnesota).
Available at: www.apec.umn.edu/sites/apec.umn.edu/files/cspaspire3.pdf [17 June 2020].

Wydick, B.; Glewwe, P.; Rutledge, L. 2013. “Does international child sponsorship work? A six-country
study of impacts on adult life outcomes”, in Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 121, No. 2, pp. 393–436.

57
  ILO Working Paper 8

—; Glewwe, P.; Rutledge, L. 2017. “Does child sponsorship pay off in adulthood? An international study
of impacts on income and wealth”, in The World Bank Economic Review, Vol. 31, No. 2, pp. 434–458.

4 Labour market challenges and youth aspirations

Acemoglu, D.; Autor, D. 2011. “Skills, tasks and technologies: Implications for employment and earn-
ings”, in D. Card and O. Ashenfelter (eds): Handbook of labor economics, Vol. 4B (Amsterdam, Elsevier),
pp. 1043–1171.

Arpaia, A & Curci, N. 2010. EU labour market behaviour during the Great Recession, Economic Papers
405 (Brussels, European Commission). Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publica-
tions/economic_paper/2010/pdf/ecp405_en.pdf [17 June 2020].

Autor, D. 2015. “Why are there still so many jobs? The history and future of workplace automation”, in
Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp. 3–30.

—; Levy, F.; Murnane, R.J. 2003. “The skill content of recent technological change: An empirical explo-
ration”, in The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 118, No. 4, pp. 1279–1333.

Bandura, A. 1977. Social learning theory (Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice-Hall).

Bernard, T.; Dercon, S.; Orkin, K.; Taffesse, A.S. 2014. The future in mind: Aspirations and forward-look-
ing behaviour in rural Ethiopia, CSAE Working Paper 2014-16 (Oxford, Centre for the Study of African
Economies). Available at: www.csae.ox.ac.uk/materials/papers/csae-wps-2014-16.pdf [17 June 2020].

Beyer, R.C.M. 2018. Jobless growth? South Asia Economic Focus No. 125779 (Washington, DC, The
World Bank).

Boateng, E.S.; Löwe, A. 2018. Aspirations matter: What young people in Ghana think about work (London,
Overseas Development Institute). Available at: www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/resource-docu-
ments/12335.pdf [17 June 2020].

Bogliacino, F.; Ortoleva, P. 2013. The behavior of others as a reference point. Columbia Business School
Research Paper No. 13-55. Available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2292011##
[17 June 2020].

Bruno, G.S.; Marelli, E.; Signorelli, M. 2014. “The rise of NEET and youth unemployment in EU regions
after the crisis”, in Comparative Economic Studies, Vol. 56, No. 4, pp. 592–615.

Castro Silva, H.; Lima, F. 2017. “Technology, employment and skills: A look into job duration”, in Research
Policy, Vol. 46, No. 8, pp. 1519–1530.

Chandy, L. (ed.). 2017. The future of work in the developing world, Brookings Blum Roundtable 2016
Post-Conference Report (Washington, DC, Brookings Institution).

Codagnone, C.; Abadie, F.; Biagi, F. 2016. The future of work in the “sharing economy”. Market efficien-
cy and equitable opportunities or unfair precarisation? Institute for Prospective Technological Studies,
Joint Research Centre Science for Policy Report EUR 27913 EN. Available at: https://publications.jrc.
ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC101280/jrc101280.pdf [18 June 2020].

De Stefano, V. 2016. The rise of the “just-in-time workforce”: On-demand work, crowdwork and labour
protection in the “gig-economy”, Conditions of Work and Employment Series No. 71 (Geneva, ILO,
Inclusive Labour Markets, Labour Relations and Working Conditions Branch).

Duncan, O.D.; Haller, A.O.; Portes, A. 1968. “Peer influences on aspirations: A reinterpretation”, in American
Journal of Sociology, Vol. 74, No. 2, pp. 119–137.

Eurofound. 2018. Non-standard forms of employment: Recent trends and future prospects (Dublin,
Eurofound). Available at: www.eurofound.europa.eu/sites/default/files/ef_publication/field_ef_docu-
ment/ef1746en.pdf [18 June 2020].

58
  ILO Working Paper 8

Frey, C.B.; Osborne, M. 2013. The future of employment: How susceptible are jobs to computerisa-
tion? (Oxford Martin Programme on Technology and Employment, Oxford Martin School, University of
Oxford). Available at: www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.
pdf [18 June 2020].

Gontkovičová, B.; Mihalčová, B.; Pružinský, M. 2015. “Youth unemployment – current trend in the labour
market?”, in Procedia Economics and Finance, Vol. 23, pp. 1680–1685.

Goos, M.; Manning, A.; Salomons, A. 2009. “Job polarization in Europe”, in American Economic Review,
Vol. 99, No. 2, pp. 58–63.

Haile, G.; Srour, I.; Vivarelli, M. 2017. “Imported technology and manufacturing employment in Ethiopia”,
in Eurasian Business Review, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 1–23.

International Labour Office (ILO). 2016. Non‐standard employment around the world: Understanding
challenges, shaping prospects (Geneva).

—. 2017a. Global Employment Trends for Youth 2017: Paths to a better working future (Geneva).

—. 2019. World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2019 (Geneva).

Katz, L.F.; Krueger, A.B. 2019. “The rise and nature of alternative work arrangements in the United
States, 1995–2015”, in ILR Review, Vol. 72, No. 2, pp. 382–416.

Keijser, C. 2019. Firm participation, learning and innovation in heterogeneous value chains of IT-enabled
services: The case of South Africa (Maastricht, Boekenplan). Available at: https://cris.maastrichtuniversi-
ty.nl/en/publications/firm-participation-learning-and-innovation-in-heterogenous-value- [18 June 2020].

Kuvlesky, W.P.; Bealer, R.C. 1967. “The relevance of adolescents' occupational aspirations for subse-
quent job attainments”, in Rural Sociology, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 290–301.

Lowry, D.; Molloy, S.; McGlennon, S. 2008. “Future skill needs: Projections and employers’ views”, in
Australian Bulletin of Labour, Vol. 34, No. 2, p. 192–247.

Mains, D. 2012. Hope is cut: Youth, unemployment, and the future in urban Ethiopia (Philadelphia,
Temple University Press).

Ohlendorf, G.W.; Kuvlesky, W.P. 1968. “Racial differences in the educational orientations of rural youths”,
in Social Science Quarterly, Vol. 49, No. 2, pp. 274–283.

O’Higgins, N. 2003. Trends in the youth labour market in developing and transition countries, World
Bank Social Protection Discussion Paper Series No. 0321 (Washington, DC).

—. 2017. Rising to the youth employment challenge: New evidence on key policy issues (Geneva, ILO).

Smith, R.; Leberstein, S. 2015. Rights on demand: Ensuring workplace standards and worker security
in the on-demand economy (New York, National Employment Law Project).

5 Measuring youth aspirations in the world of work: An overview of existing surveys and indicators

AIESEC. 2016. YouthSpeak: Global Youth Movement and Youth Insight Survey.

Bhattacherjee, A. 2012. Social science research: Principles, methods, and practices, 2nd edition (USF
Tampa Library Open Access Collections). Available at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcon-
tent.cgi?article=1002&context=oa_textbooks [18 June 2020].

Broadbent, E.; Gougoulis, J.; Lui, N.; Pota, V.; Simons, J. 2017. Generation Z: Global citizenship survey
(London, Varkey Foundation).

59
  ILO Working Paper 8

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (Deloitte). 2017. The 2017 Deloitte Millennial Survey. Apprehensive
millennials: Seeking stability and opportunities in an uncertain world (London).

—. 2018. Deloitte Millennial Survey. Millennials disappointed in business, unprepared for Industry 4.0
(London).

Gallup. 2016. Gallup’s top world findings of 2016 (Washington, DC).

Global Shapers. 2017. Global Shapers Annual Survey 2017 (World Economic Forum). Available at: http://
shaperssurvey2017.org/static/data/WEF_GSC_Annual_Survey_2017.pdf [18 June 2020].

Hazan, M.; Novella, R.; Zanuso, C. 2018. “Aspirations, attentes et réalités de la jeunesse dans un Etat
fragile : Le cas haïtien”, Papiers de Recherche AFD, No. 2018-84, Nov. Available at: www.afd.fr/fr/res-
sources/aspirations-attentes-et-realites-de-la-jeunesse-dans-un-etat-fragile-le-cas-haitien [18 June 2020].

Inglehart, R.; Haerpfer, C.; Moreno, A.; Welzel, C.; Kizilova, K.; Diez-Medrano, J. et al. (eds). 2014. World
Values Survey: Round Six – Country-pooled datafile version (Madrid, JD Systems Institute). Available at:
www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSDocumentationWV6.jsp [18 June 2020].

International Labour Office (ILO). 2016. ASEAN in transformation: Perspectives of enterprises and stu-
dents on future work, Bureau for Employers’ Activities (ACT/EMP), Working Paper No. 11 (Geneva).

—. 2017a. Global Employment Trends for Youth 2017: Paths to a better working future (Geneva). [This
document contains some results from the ILO’s Youth and the Future of Work Survey conducted in 2017.]

—. 2017b. Final report: Survey on Youth and the Future of Work (Geneva).

—. n.d. School-to-Work Transition Survey (SWTS). Available at: www.ilo.org/employment/areas/youth-em-

ployment/work-for-youth/WCMS_191853 [18 June 2020].

PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited (PwC). 2011. Millennials at work: Reshaping the workplace.
Available at: www.pwc.de/de/prozessoptimierung/assets/millennials-at-work-2011.pdf [18 June 2020].

Novelle, R.; Repetto, A.; Robino, C.; Rucci, G. 2018. Millennials in Latin America and the Caribbean: To
work or study? (Washington, DC, Inter-American Development Bank).

United Nations. 2012. MY World global survey for citizens is launched. Available at: www.un.org.ua/en/
information-centre/news/1542-2012-12-13-20-10-33 [18 June 2020].

—. 2015. MY World 2015. United Nations global survey for citizens. Available at: http://data.myworld2015.
org [18 June 2020].

World Economic Forum and SEA. 2018. ASEAN youth and the future of work. Media Briefing.

World Values Survey (WVS) Association. n.d.a. Who we are. Available at: www.worldvaluessurvey.org/
WVSContents.jsp?CMSID=WVSA [18 June 2020].

—. n.d.b. Fieldwork and sampling. Available at: www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSContents.jsp?CM-

SID=FieldworkSampling [18 June 2020].

6 Youth aspirations and the world of work: Global evidence

Acs, Z.J.; Desai, S.; Hessels, J. 2008. “Entrepreneurship, economic development and institutions”, in Small
Business Economics, Vol. 31, No. 3, pp. 219–234.

Beynon, M.J.; Jones, P.; Pickernell, D. 2016. “Country-based comparison analysis using fsQCA investigating
entrepreneurial attitudes and activity”, in Journal of Business Research, Vol. 69, No. 4, pp. 1271–1276.

60
  ILO Working Paper 8

Chambers, N.; Kashefpakdel, E.; Rehill, J.; Percy, C. 2018. Drawing the future, Exploring the career as-
pirations of primary school children from around the world (Education and Employers). Available at:
www.educationandemployers.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/DrawingTheFuture.pdf [18 June 2020].

Citi Foundation and Ipsos. 2017. Pathways to Progress Global Youth Survey 2017: Economic prospects
& expectations. Available at: www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/2017-04/Pathways_to_Progress_Global_
Youth_Survey_2017.pdf [18 June 2020].

Credit Suisse. 2018. Credit Suisse Youth Barometer. 2018. Available at: www.credit-suisse.com/corpo-
rate/en/responsibility/dialogue/youth-barometer.html [18 June 2020].

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) n.d. Available at: www.gemconsortium.org/index.php/data

[18 June 2020].

Global Shapers. 2017. Global Shapers Annual Survey 2017 (World Economic Forum). Available at: http://
shaperssurvey2017.org/static/data/WEF_GSC_Annual_Survey_2017.pdf [18 June 2020].

Hirschi, A. 2010. “Swiss adolescents’ career aspirations: Influence of context, age, and career adaptabil-
ity”, in Journal of Career Development, Vol. 36, No. 3, pp. 228–245.

International Labour Office (ILO). 2017. The future of work we want: The voice of youth and different
perspectives from Latin America and the Caribbean (Lima, ILO Regional Office for Latin America and
the Caribbean).

Ipsos and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 2018. Goalkeepers Global Youth Outlook Poll, conduct-
ed by Ipsos, Sep. Available at: www.ipsos.com/en-us/news-polls/Gates-goalkeepers-youth-optimism
[18 June 2020].

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). 2017. Youth aspirations and the real-
ity of jobs in developing countries: Mind the gap, Development Centre Studies (Paris, OECD Publishing).

Orlik, J. 2017. Delivering digital skills: A guide to preparing the workforce for an inclusive digital econo-
my (London, Readie and Nesta). Available at: https://readie.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Delivering-
Digital-Skills-May-2018.pdf [19 June 2020].

United Kingdom Office for National Statistics. 2018. Young people’s perceptions of the labour market.
Available at: www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemploy-
eetypes/adhocs/008931youngpeoplesperceptionsofthelabourmarket [18 June 2020].

United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Armenia. 2012. National youth aspirations research re-
port. Available at: www.am.undp.org/content/armenia/en/home/library/democratic_governance/na-
tional-youth-aspirations-research-report.html [18 June 2020].

World Bank. Young Lives: An international study of childhood poverty 2013–2014, Round 4. Available
at: https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/dataset/world-young-lives-international-study-childhood-pover-
ty-2013-2014 [18 June 2020].

7 Conclusions and recommandations

Agence Nationale pour l’Emploi et le Travail Indépendant (ANETI) 2016. Manuel de procédures pro-
gramme Forsati composante accompagnement, ANETI internal document (Tunis).

Boateng, E.S.; Löwe, A. 2018. Aspirations matter: What young people in Ghana think about work (London,
Overseas Development Institute). Available at: www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/resource-docu-
ments/12335.pdf [17 June 2020].

Chambers, N.; Kashefpakdel, E.; Rehill, J.; Percy, C. 2018. Drawing the future: Exploring the career as-
pirations of primary school children from around the world (Education and Employers). Available at:
www.educationandemployers.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/DrawingTheFuture.pdf [18 June 2020].

61
  ILO Working Paper 8

Fink, A. 2009. How to conduct surveys, a step-by-step guide (Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage).

Fowler, F.J. 2009. Survey research methods (Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage).

International Telecommunications Union (ITU). 2018. Digital skills toolkit (Geneva). Available at: www.
itu.int/en/ITU-D/Digital-Inclusion/Documents/ITU%20Digital%20Skills%20Toolkit.pdf [19 June 2020].

—. n.d. “Statistics”. Available at: www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/stat/default.aspx 23 June 2020].

Kluve, J. 2016. A review of the effectiveness of active labour market programmes with a focus on Latin
America and the Caribbean, Research Department Working Paper No. 9 (Geneva, ILO).

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). 2017. Youth aspirations and the real-
ity of jobs in developing countries: Mind the gap, Development Centre Studies (Paris, OECD Publishing).

Salant, P.; Dillman, D.A. 1994. How to conduct your own survey (New York, John Wiley & Sons).

Sauermann, H.; Roach, M. 2013. “Increasing web survey response rates in innovation research: An ex-
perimental study of static and dynamic contact design features”, in Research Policy, Vol. 42, No. 1, pp.
273–286.

Stevenson, L.; Lundström, A. 2007. “Dressing the emperor: The fabric of entrepreneurship policy”, in D.B.
Audretsch, I. Grilo and R. Thurik (eds): Handbook of research on entrepreneurship policy (Cheltenham,
Edward Elgar), pp. 94–129.

Trochim, W. 2009. General issues in scaling (Research Methods Knowledge Base). Available at: https://
conjointly.com/kb/general-issues-in-scaling [19 June 2020].

62
X Advancing social justice, promoting decent work
The International Labour Organization is the United Nations agency for the world of work.
We bring together governments, employers and workers to improve the working lives of
X ilo.org
all people, driving a human-centred approach to the future of work through employment
creation, rights at work, social protection and social dialogue.

X International Labour Organization

Employment Policy Department (EMPLOYMENT)  I S B N 978-92-2-033005-0

9HSTCMA*d a fa+
International Labour Organization
Route des Morillons 4
1211 Geneva 22
Switzerland
T +41 22 799 7861
employment@ilo.org  9 789220 330050
www.ilo.org/employment