When life has to begin at 40

The Employment and Training Corporation is constantly endeavouring to help persons who are 40 years old and over to rejoin the working force. In fact, the ETC has a fully fledged division which directs all its efforts to assist the so-called long-term unemployed (LTUs).

The latest ETC figures (March 2003) show that 38 per cent, or 2,629, of those registering for work are over 40. The total figure for those registering for work at the end of March stood at 6,939. Of those who are 40 and over and are registering for work, 95 per cent are in Malta and five per cent are in Gozo. The vast majority (87 per cent) are males. While 67 per cent are married, 33 per cent are single.

Two other key indicators are that 20 per cent of the over 40s are illiterate and 53 per cent have a very low level of education, mostly primary level.

A total of 57 per cent have been registering for work with the ETC for more than one year and 20 per cent have been registering for more than five years.

The constant effort made by the ETC to enable such people return to work is ongoing. But with the aim of exploring further avenues, the corporation recently organised a one-day seminar which brought together the ETC, the long-term unemployed and also employers.

Attended by over 80 LTUs the seminar was structured in such a manner that would enable all three partners to express their needs, identify the problems encountered and probe various avenues that would enhance the chances of finding employment.

It is recognised that when a person has been unemployed for a long time that person becomes demotivated, loses self-confidence and self-esteem. Such persons often feel good for nothing and live in a state of shock. This pushes persons into apathy, which hinders anyone from making an effort to move out of unemployment and join the productive work force. It was therefore opportune that one of the sessions at the seminar was a discussion with a psychologist. The session was useful to help such persons lift their morale and rebuild self-confidence and self-esteem.

A recent research study conducted by Misco, on behalf of the ETC, concluded that the number of over 40s who are unemployed was actually less than that of those who register for work. This anomaly may be due to four reasons. There are LTUs who do not want to work for reasons known to themselves. There are those who can live comfortably on the social assistance they are receiving. Others have health problems which prohibit them from taking up employment but register for work to qualify for social assistance. In the fourth category one finds those engaged in the black economy.

To beat this mentality those LTUs attending the seminar had a discussion with a senior official from the Ministry for Social Policy. The official explained the advantages of working regularly and paying national insurance contributions.

The disadvantages of working in the black economy were also explained.

To attack the problem from all angles the LTUs participated in a discussion involving representatives of the Malta Employers' Association, the Federation of Industry and the Chamber of Commerce. There were also two representatives of the ETC and five representatives of the unemployed persons.

In the discussion it emerged that employers want a more prepared, literate, trained, committed, honest and adaptable workforce. Employers require workers to give their maximum production at the lowest possible costs and with a more flexible approach to work. This is necessary for a firm to be more competitive and to increase the demand for their products or services. The employers are increasingly expecting that there will be no insistence on indefinite work contracts in ETC schemes, nor guaranteed wages. Training provided - both in-house and by the ETC - should be in line with the demands of the labour market.

Unemployment submissions by the ETC are to be more exact. Time wasting interviews should be avoided.

The unemployed want decently paid work which also respects their dignity, recognises experience and, of course, safety. They hate discrimination based on age and expect to be employed for what they can do and posses.

The unemployed also feel there should be more fairness in filling job vacancies.

Those speaking for the unemployed felt that foreign workers should not be exploited at the expense of the local unemployed. Qualities possessed by older workers such as maturity, experience, continuity, seriousness, loyalty, expertise, training received, discipline, acceptance of authority, better customer care, dedication and managerial abilities should be given more weight in interviews and in the filling of job vacancies. Job applications should be acknowledged and filled vacancies notified to applicants.

The unemployment want full-time, indefinite employment and not the uncertainty of definite contracts paid on the minimum wage irrespective of experience and qualifications. They also need clear job descriptions and not be expected to do everything.

Early retirement schemes should be discouraged. Rationalisation and retraining are preferred.

The ETC advisors, who chaired and acted as rapporteurs of the workshop, are to dedicate more time to knowing their clients and obtaining more detailed information from employers about job vacancies before submitting the unemployed for jobs.

The ETC would like employers to retrain more workers in-house and to inform the corporation about their future training and employment needs. More effective communication based on detailed information on job vacancies with ETC would be very useful in the early filling of job vacancies.

More feedback from employers would be greatly appreciated after interviewing applicants suggested by the ETC. Employers should offer more indefinite contracts and guaranteed reasonable wages especially to applicants participating in ETC schemes such as TEES (Training and Employment Exposure Scheme for the Over 40s).

Through this scheme the ETC has trained participants for six months and the employers acquired, free of charge for six other months, the services of trained participants. Definite work contracts create uncertainty among the workers. In return for permanent employment offers, employers are given financial incentives by the ETC for the first three years.

The forum indicated that the unemployed should make more use of the employment services offered by the ETC and participate more in training courses and schemes it provides in order to retrain and employ themselves. In today's world no job is for life due to the fast technological and other changes taking place.

When employment partners meet and listen to each other's expectations, attitudes change, slowly but surely, for the benefit of all. "It is heartening to note that someone is caring and has an interest in finding employment for us," said one of the long-term unemployed at the motivation seminar.

Mr Mifsud is the ETC officer in charge of the programme for over 40s.