Existence of natural gas reserves in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Cyprus and emerging growth prospects of the Cyprus economy, has led the Human Resource Development Authority of Cyprus (HRDA) to conduct a research study entitled ‘Early identification of employment and training needs for the effective utilisation of natural gas in Cyprus”.

Results of the study, which was completed in November 2012, indicate that the greatest employment needs will appear during development of the necessary infrastructure, such as the liquefaction plant and the pipeline network, their vast majority being mainly middle-level occupations, such as craft workers, machine operators and supervisors. Employment needs will also materialise during operation of the facilities, although these will be mainly high-level occupations, such as managers, professionals and technical assistants.

As regards the local labour force, the greatest employment prospects will appear during the processing stage and production of natural gas and specifically during construction and subsequent operation of the liquefaction plant. Very good employment prospects will also appear during the stage of local natural gas distribution, especially during construction of the pipeline network for transportation of natural gas.

Use of natural gas in Cyprus generates needs for human resources with specialised knowledge and skills to be employed in enterprises operating or expected to operate in this sector. These needs may be fulfilled by developing and implementing appropriate education and training programmes so that newcomers to the labour market as well as the unemployed acquire the necessary knowledge and skills.

The study includes a road map for promoting the skills required for utilisation of natural gas in Cyprus. The road map stresses the necessity of promoting these skills through the education and training systems of Cyprus. The education system will be responsible mainly for providing knowledge and skills to new entrants, while the training system will be responsible mainly for upgrading knowledge and skills of the unemployed and employed. Inevitably, cooperation between the education and training systems is of paramount importance for efficiently meeting the newly-emerging skill needs.

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ReferNet Cyprus