Labour’s “guarantee for youths” has yet to be fleshed out in practical terms but the party says it will include structures to “follow” young people once they leave school to ensure they get education, training or jobs.
“Youths will be guaranteed the opportunity to be in education, employment or training,” a party spokesman said when asked to explain the proposal being promoted by leader Joseph Muscat, adding, however, that no one would be forced into these options.
The spokesman also said a Labour government would subsidise training and education while investing strongly in the Employment and Training Corporation.
“The ETC, together with the private sector, will be pivotal in spearheading this vision. Through proper, relevant training, youths will be better equipped to jump quicker into the labour market... Training will be qualitative, relative to one’s potential... and tailored to the immediate and future needs of the country,” the spokesman said.
Today, he added, government funds for training and employment initiatives were “already depleted”. Without specifying how much money would be allocated to the project, the spokesman said every euro spent would be seen as an investment in the future.
He said an emphasis would be made on incentives for the private sector to invest in training and providing better jobs.
“Therefore, there is no burdening of the public sector but a vision that affirms education and training as important drivers in economic growth and in the creation of jobs.”
There will be no “automatic employment” in the public sector, the spokesman added. Nor, it seems, will there be any refund if the guarantee is not honoured.
Labour has come under fire over the proposal, with various quarters, foremost among them the Nationalist Party’s youth movement, describing it as a “slogan without substance”.
Dr Muscat said the proposal was part of a European-wide €10 billion initiative being promoted particularly by Socialist parties in response to the austerity measures proposed by more right-wing parties. “We will be lobbying hard for this to go through. Notwithstanding, as a Labour Party our declared policy is clear: education comes first,” Dr Muscat’s spokesman said, pointing out that the €10 billion would be distributed in the way all other EU funds were.
“We are very sensitive and worried that 35 per cent of Malta’s unemployed are aged 25 or less, drastically higher that the EU’s 23 per cent. We are also worried that 36 per cent of our students do not continue studying. It is against this stark backdrop that we are making this proposal,” he said, adding that the median income for youths in Malta was roughly 21 per cent of the EU average.
Asked if people would lose their social benefits after they were given adequate training and provided with a job, but refused to take it the spokesman said this would not be the case.
“People who still can’t find a job after a period of training will not lose the social benefits to which they are entitled today.”
Asked what Labour would do differently from what the government was already doing, the spokesman said: “We will create the right environment for our businesses to fully cooperate with the government on making the youth guarantee happen.”