Employment figures are a point of contention in most democracies. They are of interest because they give a picture of how society is faring in terms of the ability of its people to find work and their standard of living.

Until a few months ago, the Opposition was up in arms with talk of the country on the verge of collapse and how people were not finding jobs.

No doubt, some Nationalists were thinking about raising again the bailout nonsense that was used as a scare tactic before the election.

According to the Opposition, the job market was to be viewed as being in a disastrous state and that was the line it was pushing, regardless of the fact that Malta’s unemployment figure was among the best in Europe.

On the other hand, the government has been talking about the measures it has undertaken to improve the skills gap that certainly does exist. It has also concentrated policies on increasing female participation in the labour market through initiatives such as the breakfast clubs in schools and the free childcare initiative.

Today, even the Opposition has accepted the fact that unemployment is on the decrease but in a muddled way.

They did not believe the NSO but believe Eurostat? Go figure. So they have turned their cannon on to the reasons why unemployment has decreased.

They point to the public sector and accuse the government of buying out the problem by increasing its size.

This is a strong argument except for one thing: the size of the public sector has actually decreased since March 2013.

We are experiencing the same political manoeuvring we saw over the employment figures.

Taking figures out of context proves nothing. Over the past two years, the labour market has increased substantially.

This is mainly due to two factors: more non-Maltese are coming to work here and more Maltese women are working. The pool of current and poten­tial employees, therefore, has increased because new industries have been created and others have developed and expanded.

Taking figures out of context proves nothing

The public sector, in March of last year, was making up 26.7 per cent of the labour market. This year? It has decreased, albeit minimally, to 26.6 per cent.

So, in the context of the total number of employees in Malta, the percentage of public workers has slightly decreased.

This is a trend that has been going on for years now.

Shooting figures without context just misses the point. I’d rather have a discussion on how we can improve things to make sure Maltese youths have the necessary skills for tomorrow’s economy or on how to bring those on long-term benefits into employment.

Playing with figures with no context just to save face is typical of an Opposition stuck in a negative groove. Should the Opposition wish to not be called ‘negative’, the first step it needs to take is to propose policies that combat the skills gap, decrease early school leaving and introduce vocational education in schools.

Of course, the fat must be cut from the public sector.

There are still areas where efficiency can be improved and the government has continued where the previous administration left off with a number of initiatives to do just that.

But we shouldn’t forget that much of the public sector recruitment of the past two years has been in the education sector.

This is mainly due to policies that include having smaller classes and a more inclusive education, creating the need for more staff, such as learning support assistants (LSAs).

In its urgency to call for a cutting of jobs in the public sector, the Opposition has forgotten it had until recently asked for an increase in public sector employees to cater for the inclusive policies we have continued, such as LSAs.

Or, perhaps, the Opposition is suggesting we decrease the number of healthcare professionals employed? So which is it? More or less?

You and I, both, have no idea what the Nationalist Party’s position is beyond creating false controversies. The Opposition gets an ‘A’ for negativity and an ‘F’ for policymaking. It must try harder.

Evarist Bartolo is Minister for Education and Employment.

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