In essence there are only two ways that a person enters the marine industry: Either your family was involved in the industry, or your entry into the industry was an accident.
Family involvement consists of two categories also: Those who had family that tried to discourage their offspring to enter the industry in every possible way, but the offspring somehow decided to ignore their family's advice, and those who are the scions of successful family businesses.
The latter category of family involvement is relatively rare, (I estimate them at less than 1 percent) but continues to be a significant factor in the industry, and in a few instances there are fourth and maybe fifth generation maritime people.
The other family category points to a peculiar mystery about the marine industry. Why do so many maritime parents discourage their children from entering the industry?
On the face of it they claim that the industry is tough and spread out, often results in long family absences and that there are much easier ways to earn a living. But a somewhat deeper examination probably reveals another reason. Almost always, the parent who is discouraging their child from entering the industry was the first person in the extended family to find a path to the middle class by accidentally becoming involved in the marine industry. This parent has now become exposed to a larger world with more possibilities than just entering the middle class and has grand designs for their offspring.
So this maritime parent will wonder: Should my son (or daughter) join the maritime industry too? They will reason: Well, it was good to me, but my arrival in the middle class by means of the marine industry now enables my offspring to make the leap to the upper middle class. Therefore they should focus on becoming doctors or bankers, or lawyers or shore based engineers or scientists. They will argue: Don't suffer the indignities I had to suffer, go the Ivy league route and I, your maritime parent who has paid the price, will support you.
But then, in moments of unguarded parental pride, some of that offspring saw their parent aboard their ship, or was exposed to the sea, or saw a oat or ships the parent built. They saw the grace and glory of the maritime industry and despite parental reservations and discouragement did enter the industry. These are the maritime addicts; knowledgeable, determined and motivated, but clearly in love with the sea. Just like the scions they are also a small percentage of the maritime industry. Very unscientifically I would say 90 percent of maritime parents discourage their offspring from entering the industry. Children, being what they are, will never follow their parents' advice, so the 10% percent that is encouraged will not enter the industry, but I estimate that 10% of those who are discouraged become addicted instead and end up in the maritime industry.
So let's do some math. Let's say the maritime industry is 1 percent maritime scions and 9 percent addicts, that must mean that 90 percent entered this industry accidentally.
I am not sure that the number is absolutely correct, but the theory is valid. The maritime industry, for as long as it has existed, has always been populated by people who happened to show up at the waterfront, saw that there were tough, but well paying jobs to be had and used it to claw their way from the lower to the middle classes. The trend is truly international and, due to the international nature of our industry, roams the earth.
In the 1600 it was Holland's tool to bring a huge portion of the population into the middle class, in the 1700's it established a major portion of the US middle class, and in the early 1900's it did the same for Greece and today it does it for India and the Philippines.
Oddly, the US Maritime industry still provides this path, the industry in all its forms is very large, short of people, pays well, and is not outsourcable to a very large extent. However, it is not as clearly visible as it was 200 years ago. It is now a complex animal with many, many points of entry and many paths to the middle class.
Unfortunately our industry has becomes disconnected from its traditional source of accidental entrants. No longer do the immigrants and less financially successful classes live along the water and no longer is there the simple possibility for a young and enterprising member of those classes to walk aboard a ship and say: Captain do you have job for me?
Instead the enterprising youngster will focus on a career in law enforcement or nursing or the armed forces. These are all potential paths to the middle class and all heavily advertised in the lower income school systems. But I defy any SNAME member to name one inner city school that effectively provides similar advertising for the maritime industry.
And so our industry is not finding the people we need.
But through an independent coincidence, the maritime industry is starting to make some small inroads into this important pool of talent and in the next blog I will provide some examples of those inroads.
In the meantime, I would like to wish my fellow SNAME members a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
If you are reading this I suspect that the merriment and happiness has something to do with ships and sea. There are many more families that don't know it, but also can derive their merriment and happiness from the sea. Let's find them in 2011.