Deputy Minister of Education Kudarauskienė: the Lithuanian labor market currently needs specialists trained in vocational schools

“The important thing is that now what is needed by the business, what is needed by the labor market, we see that it is vocational schools that prepare those specialists,” A. Kudarauskienė told LRT radio on Friday.

“Whether it is the energy sector, which is now particularly focused on green energy, the need for specialists is truly enormous. And it will only grow. The same with the information technology sector, the same with the engineering industry and production,” the deputy minister added.

According to her, when there is a high demand for certain specialists in the market, the offered salary increases accordingly.

“It is obvious, and this will be confirmed by both business representatives and heads of vocational schools, that there are specialties whose specialists are sought after. When their demand in the market is so high, then the person himself probably increases his value and can have his salary as he wants”, emphasized A. Kudarauskienė.

She added that there is a shortage of workers in various fields also due to demographic challenges – a decrease in the birth rate also leads to a decrease in the number of future specialists graduating from schools.

“It seems to me that today it would be difficult to find a sector that would say that they do not have a shortage of workers. Here we are facing certain demographic trends,” the vice-minister noted.

“Indeed, if we were to look at how many graduates, those young people who choose their own path, have decreased in 10 years, it is exactly half – from 38,000 to 19,000. This means that the sample, which is relevant for each sector, has halved”, A. Kudarauskienė shared the statistics.

According to her, one of the goals of the ministry at the moment is to show that vocational training can quickly adapt to the needs of the labor market. According to A. Kudarauskienė, it is also important to destroy the myth that vocational education is less promising than college or university education.

“Our goal is to show that vocational training can respond very quickly to the needs of the labor market,” the vice-minister emphasized.

“It is necessary to destroy the myth that vocational training is less promising than other fields – be it colleges or universities,” added A. Kudarauskienė.

According to the Vice-Minister, it is necessary to destroy another myth – that vocational training is intended only for young people and that an adult and working person cannot come to a vocational school.

“At the same time, it is necessary to destroy the myth that vocational training is intended only for young people,” said A. Kudarauskienė.

“That’s why open days are organized – not only to attract young people or to destroy myths in the minds of parents about vocational training, but also adults – those who may be thinking about changing careers, maybe considering that they need some additional skills for this to do real work,” said the vice-minister.

ELTA reminds that on Friday and Saturday all Lithuanian vocational training institutions have open days. Minister of Education, Science and Sports Jurgita Šiugždinienė on Friday, he will visit the Business and Hospitality Professional Career Center at the Karalias Mindaugas Professional Training Center in Vilnius and Kaunas.