2008 a positive year for employment, says Dalli

Social Policy Minister John Dalli yesterday described 2008 as a positive year for employment, saying that there were more than 145,000 in full-time employment, an increase of 2,200 in the number of gainfully occupied.

Introducing the motion for approval of the 2009 estimates of the Employment and Training Corporation, Mr Dalli said more new jobs had been created but some had been offset by job losses. It was positive that women were returning to work in line with the national plan based on the Lisbon Strategy.

The increase in the gainfully occupied was substantial, but in a micro context Malta must have more gainfully-employed people. Malta's economy was still developing economically, especially in the services sector.

Mr Dalli said the government aimed to increase not just numbers but productivity, as well as the utilisation of Maltese human resources which were either not in employment or were underutilised. This did not mean that foreign workers did not have a place in this sector.

One must also strive to address the dichotomy of different standards of work ethics between the government and the private sector in order to have one level of production, discipline and ethics.

The increase in the number of workers was made up of 335 men and 1,800 women, indicating that efforts to bring women into the workforce were being successful. Despite special difficulties, 446 new jobs had been created in Gozo through special schemes to entice employers to create work there.

Of the 2,000 new workers, 1,558 were working solely on a part-time basis. Minister Dalli said that one must not berate this because in an economy like Malta's it was important to have the flexibility of part-time work. This allowed one to operate at higher level of productivity and efficiency. Admittedly, it could well be that people worked part-time because they did not find full-time employment.

Mr Dalli said the Labour Department was ensuring that part-timers were not exploited. Action was being taken insofar as tenders by his ministry to contract services were concerned. Tenderers were asked to state what kind of conditions they were offering their employees. This was even taken into consideration at the adjudication stage. Those offering conditions below the national standard were automatically disqualified. This also afforded employers who offered good conditions to compete on a level playing field. He aimed to introduce this in all government contracts.

The number of self employed had also increased.

The first shocks of the credit crunch had been felt during the last quarter of 2008. The government was helping affected factories to avoid lay-offs through a scheme which provided for a four-day week and on the fifth day, the ETC was training the workers and paying them the day's earnings so that their purchasing power was not diminished.

Mr Dalli said that those registering for work had increased. The figure for February was 7,800, of which 6,300 were men. Those under 45 were the biggest segment, and there were 2,200 who had been looking for work for more than 12 months.

According to Eurostat, Malta had a 6.4 per cent unemployment rate last February. This was a substantial figure, but it must be seen in the present scenario of great difficulties other countries were experiencing. Unemployment in euro-zone countries was 8.5 per cent.

After November 2008, when the effect of the global crisis had started being felt, the ETC had opened a register for those looking for part-time work as their primary or secondary objectives. Employment advisers had helped these people draw up an action plan to help them look for work, and 4,500 such plans had been drawn up; 15,000 follow-up meetings with the unemployed had been held to see whether they were following the plan. During the same period, the ETC had been informed of 15,089 vacancies.

Mr Dalli said that 4,638 had been assisted to find employment, while 735 unemployed had been given job experience. Of these, 78 were young people.

The 2008 private sector placement scheme had provided work for 158 people in Malta and 240 in Gozo who had been registering for more than 12 months.

Last year the ETC had also helped laid-off VF and Bortex employees through EU funds, services and subsidies. The sum of €228,000 had come from the EU.

The ETC had trained 8,831 unemployed, of whom 546 were Gozitans. There were 728 in the technician apprentice scheme. Training grants worth €584,000 helped 6,300 people.

Through the supported employment scheme, 61 persons with disability had been helped, bringing the total number of disabled assisted to 147. The ETC had also helped train 23 former prisoners and 82 former drug dependents.

The corporation had 15,000 applications from foreigners for new and renewed work permits. Malta had some 9,000 foreign workers, of whom 40 per cent came from EU member states. Foreign workers were still needed in many sectors because these helped in the transfer of technology.

Mr Dalli said the ETC had carried out some 4,000 inspections which resulted in 300 working while registering for work and 2,000 other law infringements. Some 2,000 had refused work opportunities and were struck off the register. More discipline was needed.

Turning to the Employment Aid Programme, which aims to promote the recruitment of disabled and disadvantaged persons, Mr Dalli said that with some help and investment these people could participate in every sector of society. It was time to recognise the potential of these people, who were once considered a burden.

The scheme covered a part of their wages for three years, starting from 75 per cent in the first year, to encourage employers. To encourage long-term employment there was a clause which ensured that those employed were kept on for the fourth year after the scheme came to an end.

Some 270 employers, 67 of them from Gozo, had asked for more information about this scheme. There had already been 120 applications. It was to be emphasised that these were not subsidies for temporary jobs, but a genuine effort for permanent employment for these people, so regular monitoring would be carried out.

Community work was also being organised, so that a person who had been out of work for a long time and was feeling cut off could slowly be eased back into work. The Ħal Far Training Centre was being expanded, and a new office was being set up in Valletta for those registering for the first time, concluded Mr Dalli.

Nationalist MP Charlò Bonnici said the ETC had always been and was still a blessing in disguise with its proactive approach and foresight of trends in employment, and its reaction to new situations arising out of unforeseen circumstances.

Through the ETC the process of registration for work had become more transparent. It was known that up to 118 people a day lodged new registrations with the corporation.

The ETC had long become an organisation of training for already-employed workers, women who wanted to go back to work, first-time applicants and people with special needs.

The corporation had also launched a training aids framework to help companies invest in their human resources' training. It was well known that situations were changing weekly, with the challenges of competitiveness, inflation and other aspects. With such a volatile situation no worker could be serene in the knowledge that they had a job.

Mr Bonnici said the government obviously believed in lifelong learning, and was pursuing this trend even with the help of the EU Social Fund. Redundant workers had been given training even in unfamiliar sectors for new employment opportunities.

The ETC's employment aids programme meant new opportunities for disabled persons after years of job searching. In 2008, 61 persons had been landed with new jobs through the Support Employment Scheme and others such as Bridging the Gap.

It also helped former prisoners with the huge difficulties they faced in their search for employment, by giving incentives to potential employers. Other job seekers had been introduced to new jobs for 12 weeks' training in the hope that the potential employers would find them well suited.

Parliamentary Secretary Joe Cassar said the ETC was facing new challenges in times of global recession. It was committed to helping individuals gain more skills and had found employment for 221 persons with disability.

This year the corporation would initiate the Community Work Scheme for long-term unemployed. This would check abuses. Workers at risk had to be identified so that they could be trained in new skills. Employment figures had also increased this year.

Nationalist MP Edwin Vassallo said that the ETC commitment to treating its clients as individuals showed that the government had a social conscience. One had to be positive when speaking on employment. Up to a few months ago, before the global recession, Malta had full employment. Malta's internal challenge was that a small percentage of school leavers did not have the basic skills required to find work.

A report on poverty trends showed that 15 per cent of adults and 21 per cent of children were living in the risk of relative poverty. This meant about 17,500 children. These could be the future clients of the ETC and form an unemployment trend. As a report by the Social Affairs Committee showed, it was important that these children be indentified and given individual attention. The government was working on social inclusion and on the strengthening of family values. This would ultimately lead to a decrease in the social expense.

Poverty trends would leave their mark on future employment, making these people unemployable. The country had to prepare itself for flexibility and build the work ethic. The SAC report had recommended that it was important that the university produced professionals with corporate social responsibility, concluded Mr Vassallo.

Winding up the debate, Mr Dalli said the government had adopted an employment policy which treated problems relating to the recession as temporary, and encouraged companies to try to retain the workforce.

The ETC was giving continuous training to prepare the workforce in skills which were expected to be in demand in the future. He said that cooperation towards planning was not always forthcoming from private companies.

He agreed with opposition members that illegal immigrants were being exploited, and the government was working to minimise it.

The ETC used European funds on a number of projects. It used all funds allocated to it. It also made use of funds allocated to others but unutilised. The corporation spent more than €8 million on training between 2004 and 2006.

Speaking about remarks by the auditor regarding the corporation's accounts, Minister Dalli said that these referred to the training grants scheme, which had changed. The ETC was still verifying and the auditor's remarks referred to the situation during the transitory period.

The EU projected that Malta needed to create 77,000 more jobs by 2015 in order to reach the Lisbon criteria. To reach this target Malta needed to increase its productivity by having workers operating at 50 per cent more than at present. The female participation rate by age-group was not a problem, although the participation rate by women over 45 years of age was still low.

In conclusion Minister Dalli spoke about the employability programme and training aid framework programmes financed by the European Social Fund. These programmes emphasised vocational training and on-the-job experience. €8.5 million were allocated for such training up to 2013, aimed at training more than 3,000 people.

The votes were approved after a division with the opposition voting against.