The top three most desirable jobs to have in Britain today are: author, librarian and academic

New YouGov research reveals that the most desired jobs in Britain are not what you might expect; they are not even the most reliably well paid ones. Instead of actors and musicians, it seems that an aura of prestige still surrounds the quiet, intellectual life enjoyed by authors, librarians and academics.

Being an author is the number one most desired job in Britain. Not only would the most people like to be one (60%), the smallest percentage would not like to be one (32%). The only other jobs preferred by a majority are equally as bookish: librarian (54%) and academic (51%). Although there is a slight tendency to not want a career in law, it is the fourth most desired profession.

Men and women share preferences for the three most popular jobs, and law, journalism, medicine and TV feature in both of their top tens. There are still some striking differences in job appeal by gender however.

Men are far more likely to want to be train drivers, Formula 1 drivers, astronauts and MPs, while women are far more likely to want to be interior designers and librarians.

And there are also some significant differences by social grade, with academia, journalism, teaching and law being more than 8% more desirable to ABC1s (professional, middle class workers) than to C2DEs (manual, working class workers).

See the full poll results