Malta’s high number of women in the labour market was testimony to the creation of new jobs, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday.
The Government is a great example when it comes to family-friendly measures
With the exception of women aged 40 and over, the percentage of Maltese working women was higher than the EU average, Dr Gonzi said during Qalb Il-Familja, a live television show filmed at Villa Arrigo.
National and EU statistics revealed that 64 per cent of Maltese women aged between 20 and 24 were working, compared with the EU average of 46 per cent, while 75 per cent of Maltese women aged between 25 and 29 were working –much higher than the EU average of 66 per cent.
The percentage of Maltese women aged between 30 and 34 going out to work is the same as the EU average – around 66 per cent, Dr Gonzi said.
“There has been a huge leap in the number of women going out to work over the past five years,” he said.
But the number of Maltese women aged 35 and over is lower than the EU average. “This is because the educational system of 30 years ago didn’t provide women with the required skills for today’s work market,” Dr Gonzi said.
However, women who graduated under the “modern” education system learnt the skills they needed for their career.
“The Government spent millions and did everything to help people upgrade their skills through evening courses and schemes, for example,” he said.
“It is extremely important that, while investing in education, more jobs are created to meet the demand,” Dr Gonzi said.
More women are taking up careers and husbands and wives are splitting their family responsibilities, something made possible through the introduction of family-friendly measures.
“The Government is a great example when it comes to family-friendly measures – our collective agreement is a model that includes flexitime, career breaks, teleworking and reduced hours,” he said.
Facilities such as childcare centres are also needed to allow women to continue working and, over the years, their standards had improved.
Turning to the report on ageing by credit agency Fitch, Dr Gonzi said that every decision taken today would impact the future. One of the ways to tackle the challenge was to increase the work participation rate, he added.
The Government had started working on the problem by introducing the pension reform seven years ago and increasing the retirement age, which did not need to be changed until 2025.
The contribution rate of young men and women was increased so they would have a better pension than those receiving it today.
“Over the past years, the Government invested in education and creating more jobs and that is the way forward,” Dr Gonzi said.