Favourable placing for Malta in unemployment rate lists

Eurostat statistics showed that in April Malta held fifth place among the countries with the least unemployment rate. Parliamentary Secretary Clyde Puli told Parliament that unemployment in Malta stood at 6.2 per cent when the EU average stood at 9.4 per cent. Malta also placed fourth among the countries with the least unemployment rate among young people at 10.3 percent, this being half the EU average.

NSO statistics showed that in 2010, the number of full-time employees increased by 2,500 to 147,000.

Introducing the motion for the House to approve the budgetary estimates for the Employment and Training Corporation for 2011, Mr Puli said the corporation was instrumental for the success achieved in employment despite the difficult circumstances Malta was passing through as a result of the international financial crisis and increases in the price of oil and cereals. Malta was also facing challenges due to the restructuring of the economy and demography changes.

Malta could overcome these obstacles because its markets were liberalised, it joined the EU and the eurozone and also made the necessary reforms including investment in highly value added enterprises and removal of subsidies to non-performing industries. In 2010, the ETC found employment to 2,000 young people and another 350 jobs to people with disability. It also made 1,100 action plans for youths registering for work for the first time. There was also a significant increase in the female work participation for the 25 to 34 years age group.

The government, said Mr Puli, continued to give more opportunities for women to return to work through more child care centres, tax incentive schemes, flexibility and family friendly measures. A total of 2,131 taxpayers, who sent their children to child care centres, had their taxes reduced by €1,000 each during the last two years and 3,166 women saved on income tax for returning to employment after one or five years. In total 7,521 women had their income tax reduced to an amount of €7.5 million. There was also an increase of 1,000 working part time.

In a report titled “New skills for new jobs – action”, an EU expert group highlighted the need of more skilled and better-qualified workers. It predicted a shortfall of 700,000 jobs in the IT sector in Europe by 2015. The ETC was cooperating with other partners to tackle the skills mismatch issue to see what training and jobs were needed in the future.

Mr Puli spoke about government investment in education with increases courses and students at University and Mcast levels. These 18,000 students were given €23 million in stipends when students in the UK had to pay more fees for their education. The government had also awarded 1,000 scholarships over the last few years with 13 scholarships provided in the creative arts for the first time.

He said Malta’s economic success rested on the employability of its workforce with continuous training provided. The ETC had trained 27,600 persons over the last two years, half of them in 2010. Training schemes focused on young people: 5,800 youths received training or other services under the youth employment scheme, while 650 were engaged in apprenticeships. Another 270 received job experiences.

Mr Puli said that during the 20 years of its existence, the ETC had trained over 90,000 people, provided 55,000 job placements and advertised 133,000 job vacancies.

Parliamentary Assistant Stephen Spiteri said that through the Training Gate framework the ETC provided 1,200 enterprises with training opportunities for 10,000 employees. Other programmes focused on training people with disability and socio-medical problems.

Dr Spiteri said the ETC also provided apprenticeship schemes and retraining to former drydocks workers who had managed to find better employment. There were employment opportunities in the aeronautical sector.

Other Nationalist speakers were Ċensu Galea and Chiarló Bonnici.