Employment Minister Evarist Bartolo told Parliament on Tuesday that during the eight years between 2004 and 2012, there had been a massive increase in the number of foreign workers in Malta – from 3,000 to 12,000.
The biggest rise was that of non-EU nationals, who from 1,000 had rocketed to 8,000.
Moving the financial estimates of the Employment and Training Corporation, Mr Bartolo said that much of the work being undertaken by these foreign nationals could very well be satisfied by local labour.
He announced that unemployment had gone down to 7,100, lower than the number that existed when the Labour Party was elected to office. The EU unemployment average was of 16 per cent while Malta’s was slightly over four per cent.
The upward trend, which had reached nearly 8,000, was being reversed, he said.
Mr Bartolo stressed that the government’s goal was to provide incentives to the unemployed to move from social benefits to the world of work.
The poor level of skills and training in young people had to be tackled with a strategy which combined job creation with education. The problem of early school leavers without a basic education needed to be part of this strategy.
Malta had the third lowest rate of those who stayed in school.
Only a third of the workforce was given training by employers. Most Maltese companies were micro businesses and for them funding training was difficult.
The Employment and Training Corporation, together with the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology and Institute of Tourism Studies, would work hand in hand with employers’ associations and unions to invest in people.
Employers, he said, complained of two things: the lack of Maltese with elementary skills and a lack of Maltese with specific, advanced skills.
The ETC also needed to work with NGOs and government entities to find work for two vulnerable sectors: former prison inmates and people with disabilities.
Nationalist MP Joe Cassar criticised Mr Bartolo for focussing on what had not worked, rather than on the success stories.
He said that the ETC had helped a considerable number of young people to find their employment path.
There had been a considerable drop in school leavers who found work immediately, whereas 82 per cent had chosen to continue to higher education.
He said 1,500 workers, aged between 16 and 24, had participated in ETC schemes set up by the PN administration.
Why was the minister giving the impression that the educational and employment sector had been razed to the ground and that the country now had to start from scratch?
Was this a convenient excuse to explain why Eurostat was saying that Malta had slipped from the fourth to the seventh place in unemployment?
Dr Cassar said only 350 young people would benefit from new schemes compared to thousands who were still unemployed or not in school.
The concept of vocational work and training were positive developments, he added.
Industry Minister Chris Cardona said the number of unemployed between the ages of 18 and 29 was lower than 2,000 – much lower than it had been during the previous legislature.
Furthermore, there had been an increase of more than 4,600 in full time-employment and 2,000 working part-time.
A total of 7,400 people were registering for work in December 2013. For each job lost, the government had created nine new ones. Malta was at the forefront in creating employment opportunities and this had been recognised by the European Commission and credit agencies.
Challenges in employment did exist and there were people who genuinely sought employment but were limited in their skills and education.
Much of the work being undertaken by these foreign nationals could very well be satisfied by local labour
The country had been passive overall in this regard throughout the years but this was now being addressed through various training and educational opportunities. A task force had recently been appointed to offer alternative employment for potential layoffs and pre-empt such situations.
Opposition spokesman on employment Stephen Spiteri said more than 4,800 people under 24 had registered for employment last year.
Training needed to be provided to people who did not further their studies to ensure they had the basic skills required to find employment.
Child care centres had been a good initiative to encourage more women to join the workforce but the government now needed to target women aged over 45.
Long-term unemployment needed to be addressed to find ways to encourage people to find employment and make work pay.
Charles Mangion (PL) said the government was on the right track because it was abiding by the objectives set out by the Malta Chamber of Commerce: the government had reduced the utility bills for families by 25 per cent and the ETC had the groundbreaking role of training people to find new jobs and get out of their situation of being unemployed.
The ETC should be able to identify those sectors that needed to employ people. This was important since the government was already facing the importation of foreign workers, such as in the case of nurses.
Nationalist MP Clyde Puli said the former government had addressed the skills mismatch and had invested in education and training. More women were returning to work and this cultural barrier had been overcome. The former government, he said, had taken initiatives to increase female participation in further and higher education.
Other initiatives to increase the employment rate were aimed at retired persons. The previous government had also tackled the issue of further education for school leavers.
He asked why the ETC had reduced the number of training programmes.
Mr Puli praised the government’s initiative to provide benefits to people returning to work and asked how the allowance linked to the minimum wage would work out. He warmed on the possibility of abuse in implementing this scheme.
Winding up the debate, Mr Bartolo said efforts were being made to involve the private sector in designing and implementing training programmes for the unemployed relevant to their needs.
Current schemes had already led to a six per cent increase in female participation in work.
The youth guarantee programme would reach out to more than 2,000 youngsters, with study programmes given to more than 1,000 to be able to continue their studies and with stipends given to repeaters.
Another 350 would be trained under the jobs plus scheme.
The government was also concerned about the 2,349 registered unemployed who were aged 50 and over and initiatives aimed at this category would be announced shortly.
There would also be measures aimed at people with disability in search of jobs, who had declined in number from 1,400 in 2004 to 1,200 in 2012. Gozo was also being given due attention with an investment of €2 million in training exposure schemes.