The Italian Seafarers’ labour market: Assessing the demand-supply equilibrium

The latest outcomes of the “BIMCO MANPOWER 2015” Report, addressing the status of the international seafarers’ labour market, show that the global current demand-supply matching is characterized by a significant shortage of officers. In addition, figures are expected to worsen in the next decades, due to trends related to the demand for these professional profiles. An in-depth analysis of the seafarers’ market is considered urged since extant academic literature has rather neglected the topic. The paper investigates the actual status of the Italian seafarers’ labour market that, despite the maritime tradition of the country, is currently experiencing a dramatic shortage of seafarer candidates, mostly due to the lack of vocation for this job carrier among new generations. In particular, the manuscript is intended to estimate the size of the demand and the supply of workforce in the Italian market, grounding on both theoretical models and empirical data from the industry.