Editorial

There is no doubt that the Maltese love a good moan but a recent survey carried out by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions shows just how lucky they are.

All too often we all tend to believe that the grass is greener on the continent. We assume that large countries with large companies mean better pay and better career prospects. The survey shows that the contrary is actually true. It sort of backs the adage that small is beautiful.

The findings tell us that we are actually even luckier than we think.

The survey of 600 Maltese respondents was part of a larger EU-wide one that registered the views of 30,000 workers and is carried out every five years.

The results showed that 81 per cent of the Maltese are satisfied with working conditions, in line with the EU25 average. Nearly 45 per cent think they have good prospects for career advancement, well above the 30 per cent average for the EU.

This does not mean there is no room for improvement: In Malta, the length of time worked is too onerous and schedules are too rigid.

The trend in Europe since 1991 is for the working week to get shorter. Even in the new member states that joined the EU together with Malta in 2004, the proportion of people working more than 41 hours has dropped since 2001.

It will come as no surprise that the survey found a clear link between the amount of time spent at work and the work-life balance. Over 40 per cent of those in the EU who work long hours say they are dissatisfied with their work-life balance. By contrast, 85 per cent of those who work fewer than 30 hours a week are happy with the balance. The ideal is a regular working schedule of about 40 hours a week, the survey found.

The amount of people in the EU25 who work more than 48 hours stood at 13.8 per cent in 2005. Malta's average is somewhat higher, nearing 18 per cent. This is in no small part due to the fact that so many Maltese workers have second and even third jobs, albeit most of them undeclared. Surely, there must be a link between this state of affairs and the low female participation rate in this country. If a woman were to bring in an income, it would reduce the pressure on the man in the house to earn more money. Or is it not that simple?

The pay itself does not appear to be such an issue. About 42 per cent of Maltese believe they are well paid for the work they do, a figure that is in line with the EU25 average. So much for all the moaning about salaries being lower than those in the EU! Indeed, figures published yesterday in Brussels show that wages in Malta rose by almost four per cent over the past 12 months.

In most of the "old Europe", people feel just the same, which goes to show that pay is relative to living standards. Someone doing the same job in Europe might be paid more in absolute terms but will probably feel just as short-changed.

Going back to the reassuring statistic related to work-life balance, nearly 80 per cent of the Maltese feel their working hours fit family and social commitments well or very well. This would seem to be contradicted by the long working hours but the short commuting times in Malta - not to say the "resourcefulness" of the Maltese workers - must have a bearing on this aspect, even if it is not reflected in the survey. The number of public holidays in Malta is also above average.

What does all this mean? It means we should sometimes stop and remind ourselves that while complaining is a national pastime, we really are quite fortunate. Perhaps the grass really is greener at home.