Presentation for EC program PROGRESS project YOUTH4JOB. 2013.

1. Youth4JOB Seminar
“Learning mobility a key factor that expands horizons in education, in
training and employment” (Naples, Tuesday 25th June 2013)

2. Presentation
•
•
•
•
•
•
Introduction / Overview of the sector
Support Services to Youth Jobseekers
Labour Market Mechanisms
Skills Forecasting & Anticipation
Gender Issues
Provisional conclusions and
recommendations

3. Introduction / Overview of the sector
Seafaring profession – romantic profession

4. Introduction
• Seafaring professions has traditionally been considered a
romantic profession among young people, but in today`s
labour market has dramatically changed prorities of career
choise. People prefer to work in industries that do not require
physical fitness. Professions connected with sea going is
physically difficult, which involves a high level of knowledge,
stress resistance and high responsibility for people and
materials.
• Considering these and other things, what I will mentioned
later, maybe the seafearing professions are not for everybody,
but many people find their lives exactely on sea.

5. Introduction
• At present, the maritime industry has more than 40 thousand
vacancies.
• Latvia is in good situation with other EU countries – Latvia is in
the 5th place in Europe, with several institutions of higher
education in Maritime sector.

6. 5th. Qualification Level
Deck Officers A-II/1+ A- II/2
Latvian Maritime
Academy
Engine Officers A-III/1 +A-III/2
Electrical engineers
Maritime upgrading programmes
4th Qualification Level
Maritime college of
Liepaja
Deck Officers A-II/1
Engine Officers A-III/1
3rd Qualification level
Deck Officers A-II/3
2 Maritime Schools
2nd Qualification level
3 Further vocational
education centers
Engine Officers < 750 kW
Deck ratings
Engine ratings

7. Employment by ships type
5%
9%
6%
6%
7%
55%
12%
Tankers
Ro -ro
Offshore vessels
General cargo vessels
Reefer vessels
Heavy lIfts
Other ships types

8. Support Services to Youth Jobseekers
The best way to find a job after graduating LMA
60%
54%
50%
50%
Students
40%
Non-students
30%
25%
22%
21%
20%
15%
10%
4%
6%
2% 1%
0%
Work in practice Search for a job Search for a job
with the help of
through the
acquaintances
Internet
Apply to the
Career Center
Jobseeker's CV
provide to
companies

9. Support Services to Youth Jobseekers
• The major of the respondents (students, and also nonstudents) believe in obtaining the best job opportunities
aftercompletion of their studies as a result of an employment
relationship ocuuring at the company they have before served
as trainees.
• The next best option indicated by both groups of respondents
– is job search through corporate relationships.
• Greater interest in terms of career center services is shown by
respondents who have only yet considerred styding ar LMA.

10. What qualities must possess a person who works in the
maritime field?
Students / potential students
35%
35%
30%
30%
25%
25%
20%
20%
15%
15%
10%
10%
5%
0%
5%
0%

11. What qualities must possess a person who works in the
maritime field?
• Students and potential students as the most important qualities for
a maritime employee indicate such characteristics as responsibility
and disciplinē. Also aso ne of the most important qualities
respondents have pointed out the need to be informed about the
regulatory requirements of the maritime industry.
• Students, who are already familiar with the nuances of the largest
maritime professions, rely on two characteristics: the ability to be
accountable for their actions, disciplinē (33%) and the need to know
the rules governong the sector (20%).
• Potential students who have not yet been involved with any labour
relations in the maritime sector, recognize the before mentioned
qualities as important by 18% and 12% volume. Potential students
place physical fitness and courage significantly higher than the
current students.
• Unexpected trend found in during the study could be the two
groups of respondents estimating the importance of language skills
very low.

12. Labour Market Mechanisms
The labour market represents a constitutive part of the market
system. The market system stands as a subsystem of economy
and society. First of all, the labour market mechanism results
from the essential interdependencies between the structural
components of such market, between the labour market and
the other markets, between the market system and the
economic one, as well as between the economic and social
system. Secondly, the labour market mechanism arise from its
functional relations with the operational, executive,
legislative, institutional and organizational structures of the
social system from which it belongs, and which functional
relations manifest as public preferences towards the
functioning of the labour market.

13. Labour Market Mechanisms
Demand determine the labour market
The demand for professionals in the maritime field is very high.
Shortage of seafarers
Source
Supply
Demand
Gap
BIMCO/ISF
624 062
636 543
– 12 481
DREWRY
532 400
562 200
– 29 800
BIMCO - a shipping association
ISF - International Shipping Federation
DREWRY Shipping consultants

14. Students of LMA wearing
uniforms, during their studies

15. Positive aspects of working in the maritime sector /
student answers
Salary - 35%
Travel opportunities - 28%
Prestige - 8%
New Experience - 6%
Exciting work - 4%
Career growth - 4%
Language learning - 4%
Stable employment - 3%
Fitness - 2%
Marine Uniforms - 2%
Discipline - 2%
Long time yourself out of contract - 1%
Romance of profession- 1%

16. Positive aspects of working in the maritime sector /
student answers
• Students have overwhelmingly stressed the
salary as a key motivating argument for
working in teh maritime sector. Slightly fewer
respondents have identified opportunities to
combine work iwth traveling. Criteria, such as
romance, job prestige or other mentioned in
the graph, are considered to be much less
significant in comparison with the possibility
to obtain a decent salary for the work.

17. Positive aspects of working in the maritime sector /
non student answers
Too long away from home (homesickness) - 65%
Health hazard - 15%
Hard work - 7%
Lack of sexual - 5%
Health Problems - 4%
Stress and overwork - 3%
Working holidays - 1%

18. Positive aspects of working in the maritime sector /
non student answers
• An overwhelming majority of potential students as the most
negative atribute to the work in the maritime sector have
indicated long-term absence during a trip, which denies
appropriate contact with relatives. A relatively small
proportion indicates the hazards of the profession directly
related to potential health problems.
• There is no single understanding of what should be
considered a positive or negative aspect for emplyment in the
maritime professions.

19. Gender Issues
LMA started enrolling female
students with a 15% restriction to
Navigating Department in 1994. In
each of the 20 student classes, the
number of feamle students did not
exceed 3. However, in 2003 this
restriction was lifted.

20. The current number of students 2012/2013.
•
Study programm
Women Men
Kopā
Marine transportation –
navigation
Marine transportation – marine
engeneering
48
289
337
1
133
134
Marine transportation – marine
electrical automation
1
66
67
Postgraduate
10
20
30
Kopā
60
508
568

21. Women's employment activities on board in Latvia
Total number of women
Senior ship managers
The operating level of
vessels managers
Vessel operating personnel
Deck rating salors
Inland Waters qualification
507
3
20
100 %
0,60 %
3,90 %
469
13
2
92,50 %
2,60 %
0,40 %

22. Conclusions and Recommendations
Conclusions
Recommendations
The motives of choosing profession of
Young people were determined by
*) economical:
good salary, posibility to maintain family
welfare, career possibilities;
*) social:
wish to acquire education, seafarer`s work
is responsable, seafarers are valuated as
specialists, seafarer`s profession is one of
the most perspective for those who live in
seaside reagion;
*) psychological: seafarer`s work seemed
to be very intreesting, dream to vecome a
captain or chief mechanic.
Maritime education and training
institutions have to explain young
people all merits of maritime profession
and show possibility for them to find
emotional attractiveness and realization
of their interests if they choose
maritime professions.