As a result of analysis - published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) - regarding teenagers misjudging their future salaries, HR departments have been advised to team up with schools to inform their scholars about the business world.
The research showed that most teenagers hoping to attend university were overestimating their prospective salary by about £11,000 - expecting to be earning £35,000 by their 30th birthday when, in fact, data published by the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2017 showed that the average wage for a 30-year-old was £23,700.
In addition, teenagers who did not aspire to attend university also overestimated their future earning but not to the same extent, as they cited £25,000.
Some young people were even more ambitious in their expectations for future earning potential. Five per cent thought that they could earn £80,000 or more at the age of 30 but in reality, only 2 per cent earned £80,000.
Senior reward and payment adviser at the CIPD - Charles Cotton - said that the findings highlighted:
“....the importance of the HR profession working with schools and universities to talk about what the world of work looks like and involves and what pay expectations they can get”. He added:
“It’s a case of working out, if you want to earn that amount of money, the careers you’ll need to go into.”
The ONS found, however, that young people were more interested in job satisfaction and security rather than earning capacity. Seventy one per cent of those aged 16 to 21years - surveyed in 2015 to 2016 - said that having an interesting job was very important; sixty per cent felt job security was most important, whilst just 25 per cent thought a high income was very important.
But the ONS analysis also revealed that many young people failed to land their dream jobs. The top five types of employment designated as dream jobs by teenagers previously surveyed were in media; teaching and education; health professionals; public services - such as police or fire fighters - and nursing and midwifery. Of these, only teaching ranked in the top five in which 22 to 29-year-olds found employment during 2017.
Separate research by the ONS revealed that 12 per cent of young people without a degree were working in jobs usually assigned to graduates. Fifty four per cent of graduates held a comparable job, with HR roles being acknowledged as one of the most common graduate jobs being allocated to non-graduates - and attracting an average salary of £26,319.
