An international project ‘Centralbaltic Job Ferry’ for stimulating labour market mobility

The Centre for European and Transition Studies (CETS) of University of Latvia started implementation of cross-border cooperation for stimulating labour market mobility within international project ‘Centralbaltic Job Ferry’. Project is a part of Central Baltic INTERREG IV A Programme 2007 - 2013. University of Latvia is a leading partner of particular project cooperating with other partners - Nordic Centre for Spatial Development ‘Nordregio’ (Sweden), Stockholm University (Sweden), Turku University of Applied Sciences (Finland) and Institute of Baltic Studies (Estonia).

The mobility of labour is hindered by several obstacles in the cross-border region of Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Sweden. These include lack of knowledge about the job opportunities and labour offices in the neighbouring countries as well as, for instance, difficulties in judging qualifications of foreign job seekers. Cross-border partnerships between economic actors, relevant institutions as well as strategic investments are to be stimulated by offering comparable information on the four labour markets.

Project ‘CentralBaltic Job Ferry’aims at increasing the cross-border flow of information to mobile job seekers as well as enterprises, employers and investors already located or willing to settle in the border region.

The project partners run a research process and analyse the collected data first locally. This is continued by combining the results and creating a common multilingual information platform on labour-market issues, professional trainings, qualifications and job opportunities in the targeted cross-border area. The project will organise workshops and training courses to exchange knowledge and best practices, hence contributing to a better understanding of different national regulations as well as structures and working practices of the authorities abroad.

Programme: Central Baltic Programme 

Priority: Economically competitive and innovative region 

Direction of support: Optimising the potential of the labour market 

Duration: 24 months 05/2011-04/2013