Looking for a job in boating? Come to Rhode Island
By IBI Magazine
A report on Rhode Island's marine industry says that marine businesses in the state have an immediate need for nearly 500 skilled workers. Another 2,400 will need to be trained over the next five to 10 years in order to meet anticipated demand for the growth. "The Marine Trades in Rhode Island: A Skills Gap Analysis" was prepared for The Rhode Island Marine Trades Association (RIMTA) last February, but publicly released earlier this month. The report said that the 2,300-plus marine businesses in Rhode Island account for about 7 per cent of its private employers. That translates to 6,600 jobs and US$1.6 billion in annual sales. The businesses in the smallest US state include boat-related design shops, fibreglass and plastic fabrication, woodworking, sails/canvas and metalworking manufacturers, magazines and publishing businesses, yacht brokerage houses, chartering, rigging, engine repair, marina, moorage and docking services, marine-related retail businesses and yacht and sailing instruction and support services including a large community of professional sailors. "In short, the marine trades include all the skills involved in building, repairing, selling, servicing, transporting and using sail and power boats," read the report. When the report was released, there were 450 vacancies within the industry. It said that an additional 600 workers will be needed to fill the jobs of retiring personnel over the next four years, and three large expansion projects are likely to create an additional 750 marine-related jobs. The report noted that the average salary for marine industry jobs amounts to US$39,400, compared to the US$38,100 average pay for all industries in the state. "Rhode Island needs to train approximately 2,400 new workers over the next five to 10 years to meet the current and anticipated future employment needs of the state's small and medium sized marine-related businesses," read the report. But the report also noted that the marine industry faces challenges, including a shortage of trained workers and the necessity to compete for workers with other industries. About a quarter of the marine businesses responding to the report felt that new job applicants are poorly prepared, and only a quarter said new workers are "adequately" prepared. "Respondents rated engine repair as the most serious skills shortage followed by electronics, computers and woodworking," read the report. Slightly more than half of the businesses responding to the survey offered some sort of training program. "On the job training is, by a large margin, the predominant form of training, accounting for 38 per cent of all responses," read the report. "Other forms of training are relatively evenly distributed, running from 18 per cent for vendor or manufacturer offered training to 13 per cent for time off to attend classes. The most striking difference among the sectors with respect to training is the extremely high (70 per cent) frequency of on-the-job training for the boatbuilding sector, far above any other sector." The report said that a large number of marine businesses were not aware of available training. Despite the prospect of increased employment, the report noted that marine businesses will have to compete for workers with other sectors like construction and manufacturing. "The marine trades cannot continue to rely predominantly on workers with some prior connection to the marine industry," read the report. "It must market itself as an attractive career with good pay and challenging work." In a memorandum to the Rhode Island's Governor's Workforce Board, RIMTA said that the top five challenges of the marine industry are increasing the awareness of the public and state policy makers of the importance of the marine trades to Rhode Island's economy; increasing the awareness of young workers of the range of high-paying jobs in the marine trades; increasing the awareness of small and medium sized marine trades businesses of the range of training programs available; provide more mentoring programs for younger workers and extend retirement for older workers; increasing the awareness of the marine trades as an occupational option for students and workers in the construction and automotive engine trades. RIMTA has recently organised publicity campaigns for opportunities in the marine industry in local high schools, and last weekend, it coordinated an open house of marine businesses in the Bristol area to increase awareness among the general public.
(28 October 2008)
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