What Are the Careers of the Future in the U.K.?
Choosing a career can be difficult. That's why Gallup and Amazon Future Engineer have partnered to create the Careers of the Future Index to help young adults in the U.K. and their advisers make informed career choices. Explore the interactive data and download the report and full dataset below to learn more.
See the Top-Ranking Career Paths
The Careers of the Future Index (CFI) is designed to give future job seekers in the U.K. the information and perspective they need to choose a career path. The index ranks each career based on a weighted average of income, job growth, job vacancies per worker and capacity to withstand automation. The goal is to highlight careers that both pay well and are likely to be available to applicants -- now and in the future. Select from the categories below to see the top-ranking careers.
Top Careers Ranking
Select from the tabs below to see the top careers by category.
Top 20 careers
Top 20 careers, sorted by CFI score.
- Marketing, sales and advertising directors CFI: 100
- Chief executives and senior officials CFI: 100
- Information technology directors CFI: 100
- Financial managers and directors CFI: 100
- Public relations and communications directors CFI: 99
- Elected officers and representatives CFI: 99
- Aircraft pilots and air traffic controllers CFI: 99
- Electrical engineers CFI: 99
- Functional managers and directors n.e.c. CFI: 98
- Programmers and software development professionals CFI: 98
- Senior police officers CFI: 98
- Senior officers in fire, ambulance, prison and related services CFI: 98
- Head teachers and principals CFI: 97
- Specialist medical practitioners CFI: 97
- Research and development (R&D) managers CFI: 97
- IT business analysts, architects and systems designers CFI: 97
- Civil engineers CFI: 96
- Chartered architectural technologists, planning officers and consultants CFI: 96
- Barristers and judges CFI: 96
- Professional/Chartered company secretaries CFI: 96
Note: n.e.c. stands for "not elsewhere classified."
Top 20 careers that do not require a bachelor's degree
Top 20 careers in which most workers do not have a bachelor's degree, sorted by CFI score.
- Production and process engineers CFI: 93
- Health and safety managers and officers CFI: 92
- Construction project managers and related professionals CFI: 91
- Residential, day and domiciliary care managers and proprietors CFI: 90
- Electronics engineers CFI: 89
- Production managers and directors in construction CFI: 89
- Production managers and directors in mining and energy CFI: 89
- Chartered and certified accountants CFI: 88
- Managers in transport and distribution CFI: 88
- Business, research and administrative professionals n.e.c. CFI: 87
- Quality assurance and regulatory professionals CFI: 87
- Social services managers and directors CFI: 85
- Police officers (sergeant and below) CFI: 84
- Brokers CFI: 81
- Natural and social science professionals n.e.c. CFI: 81
- Production managers and directors in manufacturing CFI: 81
- Construction and building trades supervisors CFI: 81
- Fire service officers (watch manager and below) CFI: 80
- Property, housing and estate managers CFI: 79
- Protective service associate professionals n.e.c. CFI: 77
Note: n.e.c. stands for "not elsewhere classified."
Top 20 careers by income
Top 20 careers by median personal income from work, sorted by CFI score.
- Marketing, sales and advertising directors CFI: 100
- Chief executives and senior officials CFI: 100
- Information technology directors CFI: 100
- Financial managers and directors CFI: 100
- Public relations and communications directors CFI: 99
- Elected officers and representatives CFI: 99
- Aircraft pilots and air traffic controllers CFI: 99
- Electrical engineers CFI: 99
- Functional managers and directors n.e.c. CFI: 98
- Senior police officers CFI: 98
- Senior officers in fire, ambulance, prison and related services CFI: 98
- Head teachers and principals CFI: 97
- Specialist medical practitioners CFI: 97
- IT business analysts, architects and systems designers CFI: 97
- Rail transport operatives CFI: 95
- Train and tram drivers CFI: 94
- IT managers CFI: 91
- Purchasing managers and directors CFI: 91
- Other drivers and transport operatives n.e.c. CFI: 90
- Officers in armed forces CFI: 82
Note: n.e.c. stands for "not elsewhere classified."
Top 10 most popular expected careers
Data on expected careers were collected by asking 15-year-olds, "What kind of job do you expect to have when you are about 30 years old?" In the U.K., 41.2% did not name a career. Of those who did name a career, the top 10 most mentioned careers are below.
- Lawyers
3.5% of Mentions CFI: 94
- Medical doctors
3.5% of Mentions CFI: 88
- Engineering professionals (excluding electrotechnology)
2.2% of Mentions CFI: 92
- Psychologists
1.7% of Mentions CFI: 74
- Athletes and sports players
1.5% of Mentions CFI: 4
- Teaching professionals
1.4% of Mentions CFI: 39
- Nursing professionals
1.3% of Mentions CFI: 60
- Biologists, botanists, zoologists and related professionals
1.2% of Mentions CFI: 58
- Mechanical engineers
1.0% of Mentions CFI: 87
- Veterinarians
1.0% of Mentions CFI: 93
CFI score, compared with 15-year-olds' career-sector preferences
Careers of the Future Index score, compared with popularity of the career among 15-year-olds in the UK, by occupational category. The average centile rank is shown. Where the CFI score is significantly higher than the students' ranking, it indicates that students lack interest in a rewarding potential career sector.
Explore Your Career Options
Select an option below to learn more about all careers. Click on the title of a column and use the up or down arrows to change how the list is sorted.
Careers of the Future Index
Use the chart below to see where each career ranks from highest to lowest.
Career Qualities
Use the chart below to see where each job ranks by career quality.
More From Gallup and Amazon
Get more data and insights on careers in other countries, as well as the impact of role models, digital skills and more.
