The publication of the pre-budget document in the midst of summer has become a ritual that helps us understand that in a few weeks time we will once again have to get to grips with the economic challenges that keep getting tougher.
Since the beginning of the global economic crisis in 2007, the proposed solutions for a quick recovery were mostly centred on the need for stricter fiscal rectitude. Governments, we were told, should spend less and make sure that their annual budget deficits as well as their national debts are within well-defined parameters.
While this is a golden rule of good fiscal governance, the creation of jobs is an even more pressing priority that so far has produced only modest results. The failure to create more jobs in Western economies is partly the result of a lack of political will to make labour markets more flexible and thereby entice more employers to take on more workers.
But labour markets fail to thrive also as a consequence of decades of benevolent neglect in the tackling of the issues that are affecting the competitiveness of developed economies. Educational systems in most western economies are simply not fit for their purpose. In our case, the achievement levels of our students in the last three decades present an even more daunting challenge to this administration in its quest to create enough viable jobs for our younger generation.
One thing I would like to see in the next budget is a solid commitment to get to the root of our educational under-achievement problem. I am saddened by the lack of public debate on why our educational system fails so many of our young people. Let us by all means discuss the issues of school maintenance and uniforms. But let us also engage in some soul searching to determine why the large amount of money we spend on education every year is not giving us the desired results.
Another issue that has been largely ignored in our annual planning exercise is the effect of our aging population on our economic prospects. From time to time we hear about an active aging strategy, but more thinking strategically, we seem engaged in tactical moves that are aimed at keeping older people active and entertained in their homes.
These tactics are important, but are no substitute for a well thought long-term plan to encourage more healthy older people to remain active in the labour market, a root and branch reform of our health system to cater, among other things, for the increasing morbidity that is inevitably affecting a larger section of our society.
The achievement levels of our students in the last three decades present an even more daunting challenge to this administration in its quest to create enough viable jobs for our younger generation
These are slow-burning issues that have so far not been addressed with sufficient determination. But they cannot be left on the back burner forever.
The solutions are not difficult to define. What is difficult is finding the money to make the necessary reforms that will hopefully prepare our society to address the consequences of the demographic and economic changes that are affecting our way of life.
On the more purely economic front, it is encouraging to note that the government is intent on putting manufacturing back in the forefront of its investment promotion strategy. The workforces of new manufacturing enterprises are likely to be graduates who followed manufacturing technology courses at University or Mcast. This is a very different breed from the low-skilled workforces that populated our factories in the 1970s.
Our student support system, based on the payment of stipends, needs to be refined to encourage more young people to go for those tough courses that offer better career prospects. The introduction of an employability index linked to every tertiary level course is a bold step forward that should help students plan their career.
The annual budget should also cater for some micro issues that may not have seismic economic effects, but that can make the life of many people that much less annoying. I am referring, for instance, to the issue of building permits by Mepa. Why is it that when one gets a building permit no date is fixed for the completion of a particular project? Or if a date for completion is fixed, why is this condition not enforced?
Malta has become littered with half-built houses and apartments waiting for the probably nonexistent potential buyer to take it off the books of some cash-starved developer. Many visitors are quite right when they describe parts of Malta as a mega building site.
johncassarwhite@yahoo.com