Deep Very Deep

Here is a great example of occupational mobility and transferable skills in the labour market. With the UK construction industry shedding thousands of jobs among highly skilled workers, another industry is booming and trying to encourage newly redundant workers to retrain for a trade as a deep-sea diver. The Underwater Centre in Fort William has a world-class reputation for providing professional diving courses and demand for divers has been booming as the oil and gas industry looks to step up production in response to rising prices.

“According to the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) who represent over 350 offshore marine and underwater engineering companies worldwide, over 40 more floating drilling rigs will be commissioned over the next two years, creating a demand for 5000 more support roles, of which commercial divers and ROV operators make up a proportion.”

The work is arduous and risky but the rewards are good providing that people are able to work their way through the training programme.

This story helps to apply lots of economic concepts linked to the labour market

Opportunity cost of paying for a diving qualification Occupational mobility of workers when they are made redundant The elasticity of supply of labour to highly skilled jobs such as deep-sea divers Outward shift in market demand for labour and the effect on wages The derived demand for labour

Here is a BBC report on this story