Self-employment was the preferred choice of career for the largest group of the young people surveyed on the eve of Children’s Day on Saturday, while a similar percentage of parents would prefer their children became civil servants.
The opinion poll was conducted by the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida), which questioned 1,250 people across the country from Jan 8-10 about children in Thailand 4.0.
The pollsters reported that a plurality of 20.62% of the children and youths questioned wanted to be self-employed or work freelance.
This was followed by those who wanted to be teachers (11.34%), then doctors, nurses, soldiers, engineers, architects or designers (9.28%), police or in business (7.22%), and civil servants, accountants, and bankers, or in financing and marketing (5.15%).
Meanwhile, 21.25% of parents wanted their children to join the civil service, followed by doctors or nurses (16.39%), freelance work or self-employment (11.36%), teachers (9.71%) and soldiers (6.42%).
The pollsters also sounded out opinions on the differences between children these days and those in the past. For 45.56% of respondents, the young generation spend most of their time on mobile phones and computers rather than on outdoor activities as seen in the past.
And 42.03% said young people these days have technology which makes their lives easier than in the past, while 31.47% said children these days lack patience due to the availability and convenience of such technology. Another 29.62% said they lack discipline.
Asked about good qualifications for children in Thailand 4.0, a plurality (44.64%) said they must uphold moral and ethical values and be active in social assistance.
This was followed by upholding discipline and respecting rules (35.92%), being patient (31.04%) and being analytical (26.16%).