Workers producing more, earning less - Opposition

The level of salaries of Maltese workers is 44% of that in the EU, while productivity here is twice as high, the Opposition spokesman on the economy said today.

Reacting to comments by the Prime Minister on Sunday when he said he was concerned that the Leader of the Opposition was divorcing productivity from wage increases, Dr Gavin Gulia said that was not the case, but if Malta had a problem creating and retaining jobs, it should not be tackled it by attacking wages.

The Eurostat figures showed that Maltese workers were productive and employers in Malta were getting value for money. Salaries in Malta had gone up as a much slower pace than productivity.

"In other words, Lawrence Gonzi should be concerned that Maltese workers are not being adequately compensated for their productivity or for the price increases, and are thus seeing their living standards decline," Dr Gulia said.

Maltese workers were working for less, and they still had to buy the same items as European workers, as higher prices.

Dr Gulia said job creation remained an important priority, but workers could not be seen as machines that worked for inferior conditions.