Exchange over job creation

Labour Deputy Leader Anġlu Farrugia said the Nationalist Party's pre-election promises of job creation and job security were already evaporating.

Dr Farrugia, the party spokesman on employment, referred to the announcement that Trelleborg would be cutting the working week of its 600 workers to four days.

Other companies were also facing problems, particularly in the tourism sector. The situation would get worse, he warned, if the government forged ahead with its plans to introduce higher utility tariffs.

Dr Farrugia said the MLP would continue to try to persuade the government to change its course. Just months after the election, people had already realised the difference between Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi's statements before and after the election.

But in a reply, both the PN and the Finance Ministry accused Dr Farrugia and his party of being out of touch with reality and choosing to ignore a number of facts about the labour sector.

The PN said Dr Farrugia had ignored the fact that, in May, employment increased by 2,800 over May 2007 and that unemployment was down by 470.

The self-employed sector increased by 200, private sector jobs were up by 3,200 and part-time employees over the past 12 months rose by 2,773.

The government was well aware of the international turmoil and would make courageous decisions to ensure that Malta overcame the challenges it faced and would continue to attract investment.

The Finance Ministry said statistics show that part-time and full-time employees increased by 5,000 over the last year. Moreover, more than 7,000 small businesses started to operate in the past two years.

It said Trelleborg's decision to introduce a four-day week had nothing to do with the proposed utility tariffs but was due to the international situation.