Education and Employment Minister Louis Galea said yesterday that a number of employers were shaming employers in general through the way they exploited workers, particularly part-timers.

The minister, who was speaking in Parliament during the debate on the estimates of the Employment and Training Corporation, insisted that laws and regulations had to be observed and all reports would be investigated.

At the opening of the sitting, Dr Galea said the government was allocating Lm5.25 million to the ETC.

The corporation would also receive more than Lm2 million from the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund. These funds would enable the corporation to continue its sterling work in worker training and job matching services.

Dr Galea said job creation was a central plank of economic policy. The government wanted more and better jobs for the people, and it had to work towards this aim while keeping an eye on the impact of globalisation, with firms moving to Far East countries where labour costs were lower. There were also concerns over rising oil prices.

Dr Galea said the labour sector had successfully handled the change brought about by EU membership and the Economic Survey showed how the economy was continuing to grow.

Some challenges were closer to home, including demographic changes which meant that fewer workers were in the pipeline to keep economic activity going.

The minister observed that while the male participation rate in the labour force had stabilised at around 67 per cent, that of women was growing and had now reached 33 per cent. The employment rate was up 1.4 per cent to almost 56 per cent. Unemployment as calculated by the ETC was 3.9 per cent from 4.5 per cent last June.

An analysis of the unemployment figures showed an improvement in all age groups, except those aged over 50. People were also registering for a shorter time before they found a job.

Turning to part-time work, Dr Galea said it would be a mistake to think that the labour sector could be dictated to not to create part-time jobs as a principal activity. Labour markets all over the world were becoming more flexible and this actually made for more jobs. Many people, notably married women, only wanted part-time jobs. In Malta there were 26,000 part-time jobs as the principal activity, an increase of eight per cent. The economy was thus yielding more full-time and part-time jobs, and all this growth was in the private productive sector. In four years the number of workers in the public sector had decreased by 5,000 workers, or 10.2 per cent. Such figures pointed to a major achievement by the government.

It was significant that this success was achieved even as the economy saw a change of focus from private direct production to services. It was not that the government did not want manufacturing industry to grow, but the reality was that manufacturing activity was shifting to low-cost countries.

Another trend developing in Malta, Dr Galea said, was that the Maltese were refusing to take up some occupations, even when they paid well. Some 70 per cent of young people were now in post-secondary courses and this would be reflected in better Eurostat figures in two to three years' time. The average gross annual salary had also gone up.

Malta over the past year had also seen a 5.4 per cent increase in the number of self-employed, including an 18. 7 per cent increase by women.

Dr Galea touched on various budget measures which would benefit the employment sector and workers. For example, he said, long-term unemployed would be assigned to private sector firms for 30 hours a week, with the government meeting 75 per cent of their minimum wage.

People who retired at 61 would still be able to keep their pension and still work. There were also benefits for unemployed workers who opted to set up a business.

The ETC would set up a register of workers seeking part-time work since some employers only sought part-timers and it did not make sense to send them workers seeking full-time employment.

The system of job registration was being changed so that workers who worked temporarily would not be struck off the employment register.

The government was extending maternity leave and introducing a raft of family-friendly measures, including tax reform.

The government was also allocating Lm13 million for new factories and Lm19 million on business promotion incentives.

The minister praised the ETC for its job matching service, with 3,548 workers being given a job as a result. Over the past year, the ETC had also drawn up personalised action plans for 5,123 persons seeking work.

Job registration was being decentralised and people could now register at job centres.

The ETC, he said, was continuing to come up with schemes and courses for different sectors. For example, 460 had followed training to work in child care centres.

Turning to conditions of work, Dr Galea said various cases of exploitation of workers and lack of observance of conditions of work were coming to light and the ETC was acting on them. Over the past three years, Labour Department inspectors made some 10,750 inspections of work places and 1,200 cases were taken to court. Over Lm1 million in fines were imposed. And such action against abusive employers would continue, he warned.

Parliamentary Secretary Edwin Vassallo said that between 2003 and 2007, the ETC had 40,472 requests from employers seeking workers. It found jobs for 14,971 persons, trained 30,000 and found 8,794 working illegally.

Mr Vassallo said the government was against the exploitation of workers; it was Labour governments which created the workers' corps. It was this government that had managed to create jobs, whatever the opposition said.

Cost of living safeguards proposed by the opposition were already in operation as were the safeguards for part-timers in enjoying pro-rata conditions as full-timers. The governnent had its mechanism through the National Employment Authority to curb exploitation.

Mr Vassallo said flexibility of the employment market was of paramount importance and it was not fair to say that whoever employed part-timers was exploiting them. Through part-timers, employers were cutting down production costs to remain competitive. Furthermore the market was moving through another phase, that of free-lancers or self-employed engaged as part-timers.

Mr Vassallo said the number of workers in employent was in a constant increase including an increase of 400 in self-employment in the past four years. Indeed, this figure was higher as there were many more women working as self-employed who were not declaring this.

An entrapreneurship survey by Eurobarometer showed that the trend in progressive countries was for workers to work as self-employed. It confirmed that Malta was aming the best countries providing entrapreneural education. In Malta, the life span of businesses was longer than that of other countries. The increase in the number of persons who, in 2007, declared that they wanted to be self-employed, was the highest of all 27 EU members states. They cited the favourable economic climate as the main reason.

Dr Galea, replying to opposition remarks (see pages 14 and 15) said that it was true that there were employers who broke the law by not respecting conditions of employment, whether it was for full or part-time workers. These employers were shaming employers in general. He said that the government was ensuring that legislation reflected the present-day needs and gave the workers proper redress. Any reports of abuse would be investigated.

The administrative capacity of enforcement would be strengthened through the investment of €170,000 which would put the emphasis on the elimination of discrimination in work contracts.

Dr Galea denied that there were officials in the ETC who were taking the employment of foreign workers lightly. There was more control and monitoring and things were being handled in a more organised fashion.

He said the number of young people in employment schemes had dropped because 70 per cent of the young people were opting to continue to study. He denied that employment advisers were not well qualified. Indeed, many were graduates in social fields.

On flexsecurity, Dr Galea said that the government wanted to ensure a balance between fexibility and competitiveness and workers' conditions and health and safety.

He said there were 1,799 workers who were struck off the unemployment register following proper investigations. Most had been found working illegally. All could appeal but the number of cases which were upheld had fallen.

On women in employment, Dr Galea said most women who did not have to care for children at home were in employment. Several measures were being taken to encourage more women to work including new regulations on part-time work, a revision of income tax, incentives in the payment of social security and incentives for women in self-employment. A number of family-friendly measures had also been taken.

Concluding, Dr Galea said he was confident the measures announced in the budget would mean more jobs, better jobs and the generation of wealth which society deserved.