Alexandra Allard, PhD student in economics, Södertörn University and Örebro University, will present preliminary work on job creation, job destruction and productivity in the Swedish maritime sector. Results are contrasted with the development in the non-maritime sectors.

In recent years there has been an increasing focus on maritime sustainability and maritime strategies, such as the EU’s sustainable blue economy approach. Through the transformation of established maritime sectors as well as the development and growth of emerging sectors, it is predicted that maritime sectors will experience increases in employment growth and productivity, with the potential to outperform non-maritime sectors.

The study explores growth in the Swedish maritime sector, using corporate data for 1998 to 2020 from the Swedish House of Finance’s Serrano database combined with data for firms within maritime technology and maritime transportation from the Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE) and Swedish Maritime Technology Forum (SMTF).

The paper to be presented is in an early stage. Hence the discussion will focus on previous literature and descriptive statistics. Seminar attendents are invited to contribute to a discussion of possible methodological approaches.