Qualifications and skills

Our economy has over the last years experienced a number of very positive developments in the labour market. We have clearly had an increasing demand for labour with the consequence that employment has steadily increased. It is also recognised that the platform of skills required to do the jobs available in today's labour market are higher than the platform of skills required 20 years ago. Moreover, the nature of the jobs has also changed significantly, with much less emphasis on brawn and much more emphasis on brain - even in those jobs that are essentially manual jobs.

These developments were also made possible because there has been a very significant investment over the past 20 years in the upgrading of the skills of the work force, through all levels of education and in particular in the area of post-secondary and tertiary education.

The increased intake at University level, the opening up of the range of courses in this institution, the creation and enlargement of the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology and the provision of apprenticeship schemes are all examples of this investment. Moreover vocational training across all occupations was given a big boost through fiscal incentives and an increase in the supply of training provision.

In the meantime our economy continues to go through its transformation process as the state takes on an ever-reducing role in the operation of specific activities and businesses operating here seek to maintain their competitiveness. So far we have managed to maintain a medium term balance between job losses and job creation, very much in favour of job creation as the figures mentioned above demonstrate.

However, with increased competition and a very difficult international economic situation, continuing to maintain such a positive balance in favour of job creation may prove to be more difficult than we think. In this regard, the government's efforts to attract an ever increasing amount of investment need to be strengthened.

This would not be enough unless we support these efforts through the continued provision of skilled people, capable of taking up the new jobs that get created. Employers have an important role to play in this area, as after all it is up to them to determine what qualifications their prospective employees should have. The process of matching the supply of and the demand for labour needs to take this factor into account as well. What is the issue? There are two risks that need to be considered. First, employers always run the risk of recruiting an over-qualified person or an under-qualified one. Second, there is the risk that we do not value fully all our human resources.

The risk that employers recruit an over-qualified person or an under-qualified person is a real one. There are employers, and unfortunately the Public Service is an example, where jobs are tied to the requirement that the applicant is a graduate. This may be necessary in some cases but not in all. The critical issue is the experience that a candidate may have, which in certain instances seems to count for nothing, and will continue to count to be so, unless there is a conscious drive to recognise the acquisition of skills through experience.

Let us take a very practical example of someone who started working at age 18 and worked up the ranks of an organisation until he/she reached a managerial grade. The person is not a graduate, as during his teens all roads to university were blocked by socialist policies. However, he/she has acquired skills that are far more important than anything that a degree could have given this person. In today's labour market environment, this person could end up being disadvantaged simply because he/she does not have a university degree. The second risk is tied to the first one. Although we all agree that human resources are our only resource, we are running the risk that we do not value fully this resource.

When an economy is going through a transformation process of the type we are going through and in the light of a difficult international economic situation, further structural changes in the economy become necessary.

However prejudices may inhibit the full utilisation of our human resources. We need to accept that many work skills are transportable from one economic activity to another, and it is only this flexibility and transportability that will ensure that we value fully our human resources.

However, to do this, we need to start equating the acquisition of skills with the acquisition of qualifications - hence the title of this week's contribution.

As a country we have managed to overcome a number of internal divides. The extent of social mobility that we have in this country is proof enough of this. We have also overcome the digital divide, thanks to the efforts made by the government to make IT available to all.

We cannot allow qualifications to create another divide, and the only way to achieve this, is by making sure that we recognise effectively vocational skills acquired through experience.