Searching for solutions for labour market mobility problems within the international Project „Centralbaltic Job Ferry”

The Project „Centralbaltic Job Ferry” (CB Job Ferry) is designed to improve the labour market mobility in Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Sweden. 

The mobility of labor 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 labor offices in the neighboring 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 labor markets. Project CB 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 CB Job Ferry corresponds to goals of the priority area 8 of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region which envisages actions in the field of promoting entrepreneurship, strengthening SMEs & increasing the effective use of human resources. The project addresses common labour market issues in the Baltic Sea Region & can compliment already ongoing activities in the region by focusing on new target groups, such as professional schools & vocational training centres. In addition the CB Job Ferry project will contribute to activities of Public Employment services by providing additional information on job offers & working conditions, but most importantly – providing a comparison between professional qualifications, existing regulations & legal requirements on different labour markets.

The Lead Partner of the project is the University of Latvia represented by the Centre for European and Transition Studies. Project partners are represented by the Nordregio, Nordic Centre for Spatial Development (Stockholm, Sweden), Turku University of Applied Science (Turku, Finland) and the Institute of Baltic Studies (Tartu, Estonia).

The project implementation will take two years, from the middle of 2011 to the middle of 2013. During the implementation of project the mutually comparable information on four cross-border labour markets will be collected and analysed to improve mobility of those labour markets, as well as simplify the access to qualified labour force for promoting development in cross-border areas.

For implementing the project partners will run a research process and analyze the collected data first locally. This will be continued by combining the results and creating a common multilingual information platform on labor-market issues, professional trainings, qualifications and job opportunities in the targeted cross-border area. The project will organize 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.

During the project lifetime there are four Partner Meetings and Steering Group meetings planned, as well as four seminars and eight training courses and the Final conference in Riga in the spring of 2013. These events will involve social partners, participants from responsible state institutions, NGOs, vocational education institutions on regional and well as national levels.