Development of youth professional interests in accordance with labour market requirements

Abstract

This article analyses the European Commission, OECD and Eurostat data, and the Latvian labour market data on youth unemployment rates during 2008–2014. It also examines the results of the empirical study on the Latvian youth’s development of creativity in the formation of intents about profession and its conformity with demands of the present labour market. For determination of the professional interest, methods of analysis and synthesis, time series analysis and mathematical statistics were applied. For the interpretation of models and facts, survey method, expert interview method, focus group discussion analysis, SWOT and PEST methods were applied. A questionnaire was used to examine the professional intents of youth from Latvian secondary schools, and a focus group discussion with parents and teachers of students was organised to determine concepts about the issues of vocational choice in the context of supply and demand in the labour market.

Keywords: Vocational choice, career, employment, labour market.