Introduction: The supply of elite professionals is crucial for economic development,yet little is understood about the appeal and influencing factors of these careersamong young people across different economies. It remains unclear whetheradolescents in academically high‐performing economies growingly expect emergingtechnological jobs in response to evolving workforce demands.

Methods: This research used the Programme for International Student Assessment2000–2018 data in 24 high‐performing educational systems to examine the two‐decade trends in adolescents' expectations for Science, Technology, Engineering, andMath (STEM), medicine, law, business, and teaching careers. The popularity trend ofthese careers and the major impacts of gender, socioeconomic status, and academicability were examined with multilevel logistic regression models.

Results: The findings indicated that developed economies such as Singapore, Canada,the United States of America, and the United Kingdom have successfully attracted agreater proportion of students to elite careers. In contrast, many high‐performingAsian economies, such as Korea, Japan, and Taipei, have not. STEM and medicalfields primarily drew students with high math abilities, whereas legal professionsattracted those with superior reading skills. Although girls generally expected teachingand legal careers and boys expected STEM fields, social and gender differences havenarrowed over the past decades.

Conclusions: Many Western developed economies effectively attract a larger share ofadolescents to STEM careers than their Asian counterparts. Although gender andsocial disparities persist, their impact has diminished. Effective human resourceplanning should be based on each country's unique trends and influencing factors topromote greater equality and inclusion in the workforce