Oceans, seas, and inland waterways are vital to our planet, providing a support system that helps mitigate climate change, produce oxygen, and provide food and vast economic opportunities through trade and employment. However, the maritime sector, which provides millions of jobs globally, both directly and indirectly, is bound to be heavily impacted by decarbonization and digitalization, while geopolitical factors continue to influence and restructure its supply chains. This blog uses data from the ILO Harmonized Microdata Collection to map out the global maritime workforce and highlight employment characteristics and trends that need to be considered in closing long-standing decent work gaps and ensuring a just transition for millions of workers across the world.
The maritime sector is defined here as including the following major subsectors and industries (see methodology box for details):
- Fisheries and aquaculture (marine and freshwater),
- Processing and preserving of fish, crustaceans, and mollusks,
- Shipbuilding and repair,
- Shipping, water transport (sea and coastal and inland water transportation of both freight and passengers), ports and related services and support activities, and
- Extraction of salt, when possible.
Geography matters: mapping ‘maritime countries’ and subsectors
Among countries with available data1Data for some of the largest maritime nations are not available. For example, China does not share household survey microdata with the ILO, while data for many countries lack sufficient detail to estimate employment in the maritime sector (see methodology box for details)., several immediately stand out as maritime countries, where the sector’s contribution to the economy, but also the country’ share of the global maritime workforce, are substantial. Unsurprisingly, geography plays a key role: maritime countries tend to consist of islands or archipelagos or have access to oceans or seas, and to be positioned in a strategic location along global or regional trade routes.
The sector’s importance in these countries is sometimes recognized in national strategies, such as Indonesia’s Blue Economy Roadmap. It is worth noting that these countries do not necessarily have the highest maritime sector shares in employment. Indeed, while the maritime share in total employment in these economies can reach 4.5 per cent, as in the Philippines, it is as high as 9 to 13 per cent in small island nations like Kiribati, Maldives, Seychelles, and Tuvalu.
Many Southeast Asian countries are among the world’s top maritime countries, as the sector employs more than 2 million workers in both Indonesia and Viet Nam, more than 1.8 million in the Philippines, more than a million in Thailand, and hundreds of thousands in Myanmar and Cambodia. In smaller countries of the region, the sector accounts for a significant share of employment (e.g. 7.2 per cent in Brunei Darussalam). The largest shares of maritime workers in these countries are employed in the fisheries and aquaculture subsector, but there are also large shares of workers in shipping, water transportation, ports and related services and support activities; and in shipbuilding and repair. In Thailand and Viet Nam, the ‘processing and preserving of fish, crustaceans, and mollusks’ industry also employs a large share of workers.
Geography also matters for another reason for maritime employment; that is, due to the clustering of activities in some countries and regions. For instance, the top-three shipbuilding countries in the world are China, the Republic of Korea, and Japan, where shipbuilding employment is concentrated. Similarly, at the end of the ship lifecycle, UNCTAD data show that Bangladesh, India and Pakistan together accounted for over 85 per cent of global gross ship recyling tonnage in 2022. These three South Asian countries have a large workforce also engaged in shipbuilding and repair, in addition to fisheries and aquaculture workers. All subsectors combined, South Asia has a maritime workforce of more than 6 million workers.
Latin America is also home to many maritime sector workers, spanning all subsectors, with over 1.6 million workers both in Brazil and Mexico, and over 300,000 workers in Columbia, Ecuador, and Peru. Based on the subsectors definition, and considering countries for which data are available, maritime countries also include several African countries, such as the United Republic of Tanzania, Kenya, and Madagascar, where the Indian ocean provides for the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of workers. There are also some high-income countries among maritime countries, including the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates. For the latter countries, most of the sector’s employment is concentrated in shipping, water transport, ports and related services and support activities, and in shipbuilding and repair, with far lower shares of workers in fisheries and aquaculture, and in processing of fish and seafood.
A diverse workforce: mapping maritime occupations
Consistently with the subsectors, maritime workers span across different occupations. In the fisheries and aquaculture subsector, there are two main occupational groups: skilled fishery workers (deep-sea, and inland and coastal water fishery workers; subsistence fishers; and aquaculture workers) and elementary workers (fishery and aquaculture labourers).
In the processing and preserving of fish, crustaceans and molluscs industry, key occupations include fishmongers and related food preparers and food and related products machine operators as well as hand packers, freight handlers and other manufacturing labourers.
The shipbuilding and repair subsector primarily employs crafts and related trades workers, including welders and flamecutters; carpenters and joiners; sheet metal workers, electronics mechanics and servicers. Additionally, the subsector employs mechanical engineering technicians.
The shipping, water transportation, ports and support activities subsector employs ships deck crews and related workers (often referred to as seafarers) and other machine operators and drivers, including heavy truck and lorry drivers; crane, hoist and related plant operators; lifting truck operators. Other key occupations in the subsector are ships’ deck officers and pilots; clearing and forwarding agents. The subsector’s workforce also includes many elementary workers (such as freight handlers; messengers, package deliverers and luggage porters; cleaners and helpers) and workers in clerical occupations, including transport clerks, stock clerks and general office clerks.
Workforce characteristics and working conditions: more needs to be done
Women represent a very small share of the maritime sector workforce globally, with an (unweighted) average of 16 per cent, compared with approximately 40 per cent overall. Indeed, according to the IMO, which has been working to promote women’s participation in this traditionally male-dominated sector, despite some recent progress, women today still represent only 1.2 per cent of the global seafarer workforce. The only maritime industry with a relatively higher share of women is the ‘processing and preserving of fish, crustaceans and molluscs’ industry, where women represent more than 60 per cent of the workforce in many countries in Asia, and more than 45 per cent in some countries in Latin America. This industry is also the only maritime industry where the youth share in employment is relatively high (20 to 24 per cent in several countries, compared to an overall average of 9 to 17 per cent, depending on the country).
Most notably, it is also the maritime industry with the lowest wages relative to the overall average, after the fisheries and aquaculture subsector, reflecting its relative low skill intensity and low labour productivity in comparison with other manufacturing industries.
The share of employment outside the formal sector in all maritime subsectors is relatively lower than the national level for most countries, except in fisheries and aquaculture. Meanwhile, the share of informal employment is higher and varies widely across subsectors. It is highest in fisheries and aquaculture, and also in land transportation, and repair of fabricated metal products, machinery and equipment (including ship repair). Additionally, in some countries like Bangladesh, there are very high informal employment rates in the shipbuilding industry. In South Asia in general, the prevalence of informality extends throughout the entire ship value chain, including ship recycling activities. These ship recycling activitiesgenerally constitute hazardous work with major occupational health risks and environmental impacts. Furthermore, while long working hours are quite common across the maritime sector, they are particularly so in South Asia.
It’s time to change course…
While decent work deficits persist in the maritime sector, some subsectors are particularly likely to be impacted by major trends like decarbonization and digitalization. In this context, in addition to investment in infrastructure and equipment, there will be a need for understanding the skills needs implications of the ongoing and upcoming changes and making investments in workforce training accordingly.
Building on the momentum from the Work at Sea conference jointly organized by the IMO and the ILO last year, which emphasized the need to accelerate progress on achieving decent work outcomes for seafarers and fishers, efforts to address these challenges are being discussed. Following the ‘Shaping the Future of Shipping: Delivering a Net Zero World Summit’ held as part of COP28 in Dubai in December 2023, discussions have continued to focus on two critical issues: improving working conditions for maritime workers and advancing the upskilling and reskilling of the sector’s workforce to meet the ongoing challenges of decarbonization, digitalization and the broader future of work.
On the first item, there are several international labour standards that can be drawn upon, including the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006; the Seafarers’s Identity Documents Convention (Revised), 2003 (No.185); the Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 (No.188) and Work in Fishing Recommendation, 2007 (No.199); the Dock Work Convention, 1973 (No. 137) and Dock work Recommendation, 1973 (No. 145). Indeed, ratification of relevant conventions, particularly among maritime countries that have not yet ratified these conventions, would constitute an important first step towards achieving decent work in the sector. Additionally, and as the right to a safe and healthy working environment has become a fundamental principle and right at work , helpful tools include, inter alia, the Safety and health in shipbuilding and ship repair (Revised edition) as well as the Safety and health in shipbreaking: Guidelines for Asian countries and Turkey. .
On the second item, closer cooperation between training institutions and employers is needed to identify, anticipate, and address skills mismatch due to ongoing changes in the sector. Helpful tools in this regard include the ILO’s Skills for Trade and Economic Diversification (STED) approach. This approach has been applied for Indonesia’s maritime sector, through the ILO’s Skills for Prosperity Programme (SfP-Indonesia). SfP-Indonesia has supported closer cooperation between maritime companies and higher education and TVET providers, and the establishment of sectoral skills committees in three maritime subsectors. Additionally, the ILO is currently supporting the conduct of a rapid upskilling-reskilling needs assessment in Indonesia’s maritime sector.
As emphasized by the ILO Director-General during his keynote address at the Shaping the Future of Shipping – Seafarer 2050 Summit, social dialogue and collaboration between seafarers, shipowners, workers, and employers and their organizations remain critical to addressing common challenges. This understanding underlies the work of the Maritime Just Transition Task Force, jointly launched by the IMO Secretariat, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), the United Nations Global Compact, and the ILO.
Methodology
An international statistical definition for the maritime sector does not exist. For the purposes of this blog, it is defined using the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC Rev. 4) using the following 4-digit classes or 3-digit groups:
| Subsector | Definition using 4-digit classes | Definition using 3-digit groups |
|---|---|---|
| Fishing and aquaculture | 0311 – Marine fishing 0312 – Freshwater fishing 0321 – Marine aquaculture 0322 – Freshwater aquaculture | 031 - Fishing 032 – Aquaculture |
| Shipbuilding and repair | 2811 – Manufacture of engines and turbines, except aircraft, vehicle and cycle engines 3011 – Building of ships and floating structures 3012 – Building of pleasure and sporting boats 3315 – Repair of transport equipment, except motor vehicles | 281 – Manufacture of general-purpose machinery 301 – Building of ships and boats 331 – Repair of fabricated metal products, machinery and equipment |
| Shipping and transport | 5011 – Sea and coastal passenger water transport 5012 – Sea and coastal freight water transport 5021 – Inland passenger water transport 5022 – Inland freight water transport 5222 – Service activities incidental to water transportation 5224 – Cargo handling 5229 – Other transportation support activities | 501 – Sea and coastal water transport 502 – Inland water transport 522 – Support activities for transportation |
| Other activities | 0893 – Extraction of salt 1020 – Processing and preserving of fish, crustaceans and molluscs | 089 – Mining and quarrying not elsewhere classified |
While this maritime sector definition encompasses a range of activities directly related to maritime operations, some related activities—such as shipbreaking and broader maritime infrastructure construction—are not captured due to the limitations of using ISIC at the 4-digit level. For example, shipbreaking activities are grouped within the broader ISIC 4-digit class 3830, which covers general materials recovery. This does not allow for the separation of shipbreaking from other forms of material recovery.
Country-level figures are produced using data from the ILO’s Harmonized Microdata collection, which mainly includes labour force and other household surveys. Although microdata are available for 177 countries and territories, maritime sector data can only be generated for about half due to the limited availability of sufficiently detailed ISIC categories.
Global estimates are based on actual and imputed data for 189 countries. For more detailed information, refer to the document Global and regional estimates of employment in selected economic activities and/or occupations.
