Abstract:

This article is part of the research project "Ideological and moral values of youth at the present stage: assessment of state, problems and solutions" (2013-2015). In the article the most significant results are presented which characterize the changes that took place in those years in the professional self-determination of young people in connection with economic and social changes of Kazakhstan. The aspirations of young people and their actual steps in choosing the path after school, especially the motivation to form an idea of the future professional activity are considered. Current patterns of educational preferences and professional choice of Kazakhstani youth are analyzed.

Sociological research of the features of professional choices of young people in all its versatility opens up new opportunities and prospects in the study: the balance between supply and demand in the labor market. As statistics show that the current labor market in Kazakhstan is characterized by an imbalance between supply and demand of professionals. Experts of HeadHunter Kazakhstan (job search engine), based on the analysis of vacancies and CVs uploaded to hh.kz show that in professional fields such as "top management", "law and accounting" is much higher than the number of vacancies available. Among high school graduates competition in the medical profession is preserved - an average from 2 to 9 people, as well as in humanities - economic and juridical areas. The smallest competition is observed in the specialty "Museology", "Protection of monuments", "Foreign philology", "French language", "cultural studies", "technology of processing of wood", "Physics", "astronomy", "geology", "mineral exploration", "library science"," veterinary medicine".
Does this mean that the professional choice of young people is "alarmingly” unrelated to the labor market needs.

What objective and subjective motives guided the youth in a professional choice?
According to the methodology of the study, the sample in the years 2013-2015 was 1000 respondents. The survey covers all groups of young people in Kazakhstan - the sample represents young people by gender, age, nationality, marital status, presence of children, level of education, type of employment, degree of religiosity, level of material situation of households and type of settlement. The study results are processed and analyzed using custom software SPSS for Windows (version 21).