Over 100 million jobs depend on the ocean economy — here's where and why

The ocean economy is a vital but often overlooked part of the global economy. From fishing and tourism to offshore energy and maritime transport, it supports millions of jobs across diverse industries and regions. Yet, until recently, there has been no consistent global picture of how many people the ocean economy actually employs. New international estimates from the OECD Ocean Economy Monitor that were featured in the report The Ocean Economy to 2050 help fill this gap, offering the first coherent statistics on ocean economy employment across time, economic activities and countries.

Between 1995 and 2020, the ocean economy consistently supported more than 100 million full-time equivalent jobs (FTEs) worldwide. Employment peaked at 151 million in 2006 and averaged 138 million over the period. In 2020, global ocean economy employment dropped to a low of 101 million due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, preliminary estimates suggest a recovery is under way towards levels similar to pre-2019. The earliest estimate from 1995 was 122 million FTEs, which is relatively low compared to the 21st Century average where the floor remained above 134 million.

The largest source of employment in the ocean economy is marine and coastal tourism. This sector includes everything from beach resorts to cruise operators as well as cultural activities. These industries tend to be labour-intensive and less suited to automation, making them global job creators. On average, marine and coastal tourism accounted for around 60% of global ocean economy full-time equivalent jobs between 1995 and 2020.

The second largest employer – marine fishing, marine aquaculture and marine fish processing – represented about 22% of total ocean FTEs, just over one-third of the tourism share.

Interestingly, marine and coastal tourism also happens to be the largest ocean economic activity group in terms of its contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) in most years between 1995 and 2020. However, other large activity groups in GDP contribution are not automatically large employers. Offshore oil and gas extraction and the offshore industry that services it for example, represent the second largest part of the ocean economy in GDP terms but generate relatively few FTEs.

One of the newest and fastest growing sectors in the ocean economy is offshore wind and marine renewables. Before 2000, this industry was virtually non-existent on any industrial scale. Since then, at times exponential growth in production has enabled offshore wind to play an increasingly meaningful role in the energy mix of some countries. However, while its output is growing rapidly, global employment levels remain low compared to other ocean economic activity groups, reflecting the industries nascent stage in many regions. As the industry develops and more countries build-out their offshore wind capacity, FTEs will likely rise.

Global ocean economy employment is concentrated in the large population centres of Asia. Countries in Asia and the Pacific contributed over two-thirds of global ocean economy employment. China and India alone generated just under 56 million FTEs combined, or roughly 40% of the global total.

While Asia-Pacific dominates in absolute terms, growth in FTEs in Asia-Pacific remained roughly flat, with an annual average growth rate estimated at minus 0.9%. In fact, Africa has seen the fastest annual average FTE growth rate between 1995 and 2020, with 3.4% for Sub-Saharan Africa and 1.8% for Northern Africa and Western Asia, which also includes countries in the Middle East. In contrast, ocean economy employment declined in Europe and Northern America, with negative annual average FTE growth rates of 2.2% and 2.5% respectively.

In all regions except Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Northern Africa and Western Asia, the highest annual average FTE growth rates were recorded in offshore oil and gas extraction and offshore industry, despite the activity group’s relatively small contribution to total regional FTEs. Maritime transport and maritime ports posted the most impressive growth rates of all ocean economic activity groups in Asia-Pacific and Northern Africa and Western Asia, where marine and coastal tourism dominates total FTEs.

Our analysis suggests that the biggest ocean economy employers in particular regions are not growing quickly if at all. In marine and coastal tourism – the dominant ocean economy employer in all regions in gross terms – positive average growth in FTEs occurred in only two regions. In Sub-Saharan Africa, average activity group FTE growth at 3.7% ranks just above marine fishing, marine aquaculture and marine fishing processing in second to last place. In Latin America and the Caribbean the same result comes in at a mere 0.5%.

Employers and employees are likely to face significant opportunities and challenges in the coming decades, as the ocean economy is undergoing rapid technological transformation. Advances such as autonomous vehicles and AI-powered port logistics for example, are driving productivity increases in maritime industries by displacing traditional roles such as dock workers and crew members. At the same time, emerging industries such as offshore wind and marine biotechnology are creating new demand for specialised skills that may outpace the capacity of existing training pipelines and leave critical skills gaps. Especially in coastal communities, local jobs that rely on marine and maritime services may also be a risk from domestic and international outsourcing.

These growing pressures highlight the need for governments and businesses to invest in proactive planning, inclusive upskilling strategies, and support for vulnerable workers during transitions to build resilient and future-ready ocean economy workforces.

Measuring ocean employment isn’t easy. Many ocean jobs, for example in artisanal fishing, are not well covered by official labour force surveys and are not always picked up in labour statistics. Moreover, the ocean economy can overlap with other areas of the economy in industrial classification systems, making it difficult to isolate from other economic activities in official statistics.

To overcome this, the OECD developed a method that relies on proxies to break down statistics on broader categories that are available in official statistical resources. We start with an understanding of the production of ocean economic output relative to non-ocean economic output in similar parts of the economy. For example, if we know that output in marine fishing and aquaculture is X per cent of output in agriculture, forestry, and fishing, we can then use this information as the basis for estimates of the employment in marine fishing and aquaculture based on employment in agriculture, forestry, and fishing. This logic is applied across all ocean economic activity.

Employment can be measured in multiple ways. We estimate employment in terms of direct full-time equivalents (FTEs) – all the hours we believe to be worked by people in particular ocean economic activities are added up and divided by a standardised number of full-time working hours for all countries. We use a combination of data on gross value added, numbers of persons employed, hours worked, and wages and salaries to model FTEs. While informal workers may still be undercounted, this approach provides coherent international statistics that can be compared across countries and across industries.

This is the first post in a series based on the OECD Ocean Economy Monitor. While this instalment focuses on employment, upcoming work will explore productivity trends across ocean economic activities as the flat or declining employment growth described in this post is suggestive of productivity increases. Early OECD research suggests that although ocean economy labour productivity (gross value added over hours worked) has improved, the productivity picture becomes more complex when considering other economic inputs such as fixed capital.

Stay tuned as we explore how the ocean economy is evolving—and what it means for jobs, growth, and sustainability. In the meantime, you can discover 10 ocean economy facts you need to know or dive deeper into our projections for The Ocean Economy to 2050.