Achievements in science, technologies and general healthcare have helped to extend the average life-span as well as the age of the labour market participants. Considering the ever growing share of senior citizens, healthcare has increasingly more important role to play not only at hospitals and care centres but also at home. Women have become active and confident participants of the labour market. For the sake of comparison, let's look back at the 20^th century. In 1920-ties and 1930-ties, the establishment of a democratic state opened up lots
of new opportunities for Latvian women and the educational background of Latvian women improved considerably. Nevertheless, the society was not deprived of prejudice. For instance, an overview of the views expressed by the general public as published in 1925 by the magazine "Zeltene" revealed that a woman's role was to be a mother (36%), a needlewoman (28%), a woman (12%), an employee of the public sector (8%), a worker (4%) or a farmer (4%). In more than 80 years, the general picture has changed dramatically, with the overall number of women employed in Latvia even slightly exceeding the number of working men (459.7 thousand women vs. 442.6 thousand men, according to the CSB data in 2012). An important thing is that nowadays women are increasingly more often successful in business, as suggested by the results of a survey "Woman in business" conducted in 2006. Being independent, being able to sustain her family and work a job that she likes were quoted as the most significant reasons making a woman to go forward with starting her own business. The dynamic development of information technologies also has a significant role to play in the changes evident in the profile of the labour market. As a result, many new professions and specialities have emerged, at the same time affecting the everyday life of almost every single member of our society.

Latvia’s national policy planning context

At a national scale, the future labour market demand is defined with the help of national policy planning instruments. In Latvia's case these are the development planning documents which are the highest in the hierarchy: Sustainable Development Strategy of Latvia until 2030 and Latvia's National Development Plan 2007–2013. These documents provide for structural changes in the allocation of resources in the economy, giving priority to the following areas/sectors:

• production of higher value added goods and services;
• export-orientated sectors;
• larger investment in new technologies, innovations and ICT;
• improvements in the system of education and support to science.

It is stressed that the implementation of such a policy would strengthen the economic growth potential, thereby speeding up the industrial growth, increasing the economic productivity and resulting in sustainable medium-term and long-term development.

A forecast of top careers

The forecast published in 2012 by the Ministry of Economics suggests that the demand for highly-qualified specialists will grow at an increasingly quicker pace within the next 10 years, particularly in the areas of engineering science and information and communication technologies (ICT). It is also expected that almost two thirds of the overall increase in the demand for labour in the period up to 2020 will be determined by three sectors: manufacturing, trade and commercial services. Export services are expected to develop, thereby supporting the demand for logistics specialists and drivers. Once the economic climate improves, the development of real estate construction could accelerate resulting in a higher demand for construction engineers and architects. Considering the ageing of the population and the steep decline in the number of medical employees in Latvia, an increase in the demand for the representatives of these professions as well as caretakers can be expected. ICT solutions play an important role in the modern economy here, the same as in the world in general; therefore, one of the most promising careers will definitely be that of an IT specialist.

In order to identify which could be the most popular careers, a British agency conducted a survey in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom and identified the areas where the growth in the demand for the particular specialists could be the fastest in the next five years. An overview of this survey, supplemented by the list of potentially most wanted careers in Latvia is provided in Figure 1 below. The careers have been grouped according to subject areas, highlighting the areas and/or professions where the expected rise in demand in the above mentioned for countries coincides.

Figure 1

The views and choices of Latvia's secondary school students

The dynamic changes in the global environment have also affected the views of Latvia's secondary school students and their expectations as to their choice of the future career. According to the 2011 data from Ministry of Welfare, Latvia's students plan their careers mostly in the areas of social sciences and humanities, e.g. planning to become a public relations specialist, lawyer or journalist. Nevertheless, if we compare it to the information collected in 1965, doctor and pilot careers still preserve their convincing leading positions. A report on labour market forecasts issued by the Ministry of Economics in 2012 also suggests that the labour supply is the highest within the subject group of social sciences, commercial sciences and law education which is directly related to the choice of the students from the previous years. It is also highlighted that during the most recent years the supply of the labour force has increased particularly within this subject area of education. Unfortunately, it has to be concluded that the careers of a higher education institution teaching staff member, scientist and teacher which are extremely important for educating, teaching and shaping the young members of the society, have disappeared from the list of the most wanted careers by secondary school students (see infogram by Dynamic University). This is, no doubt, related to the general perception of the low prestige of these careers as well as the overall views. In this context, we would like to make a reference to Finland where the profession of an educator is highly recognised and in order to enrol in a pedagogical HEI applicant have to undergo several rounds of a special selection. Only the very best are invited to interviews and only every tenth applicant of all applicants is accepted.

Finally, hopefully Latvia's growth and its international competitiveness will be enhanced by the support to priority areas outlined in Latvia's national policy planning documents as well as the planned reforms in the area of higher education aimed at improving the competitiveness of the higher education in Latvia and thereby ensuring the training of experts in particular areas that would be well-prepared for their careers and in high demand on the market. Initiatives stemming from the higher education institutions themselves are also important, their proactivity and involvement in identifying the competences and skills required by the labour market and business, as well as a dialogue and cooperation between the educational institutions and businesses.