Foreign language skills for employability in the EU labour market

Abstract

To confront rising unemployment, skills of the labour force must be improved. With the aim to find out how foreign language skills impact employability, a study was carried out, in which 61 undergraduates, 33 master's students and 33 doctoral students from the Latvian University of Agriculture participated. The findings testify that 38% of the undergraduates, 30% of the master's students and 30% of the doctoral students were willing to work in the EU labour market and are ready for mobility. The respondents whose foreign language skills were at basic level were not willing to work in other countries because they were aware that for successful employability in the EU labour market their foreign language skills were critical. The data reveal perceptions of the respondents concerning the necessity of English, German, Russian and French skills for the Latvian labour market as well as forecasting how, in the middle-term, the necessity will change in Latvia and the EU. These findings can be useful for educators when designing modules for acquisition of professional foreign language skills with the aim to enhance future graduates’ employability prospects in the EU labour market.

Keywords:

• foreign language skills
• employability
• the EU labour market
• changes in acquisition of foreign languages