PM playing with employment figures - Anglu Farrugia

Real job creation between January last year and the same month this year amounted to just over 2,500 and not to 7,000 as was claimed by the Prime Minister, the Labour Party’s acting leader, Anglu Farrugia, said.

Addressing a dialogue meeting in Victoria, Dr Farrugia said that job creation was being based on reduced hours or on four day weeks with no overtime or allowances.

Moreover, enterprises such as Wasteserv and Malta International Airport were employing workers through a private contractor who was paying the staff half what they deserved.

At other places, workers were being taken on as self-employed and they had to pay higher national insurance.

Dr Farrugia asked how was the government spending the €8 million aimed to help companies protect their investment and the workers. Was it true that the European Commission was investigating the assistance schemes the government was giving companies in difficulty and which were being affected by these measures, he asked.

He accused the Employment and Training Corporation of playing with the rules to hide the actual employment situation in the country saying that as a result people who had lost their job were not getting the unemployment benefits.