A recent statistical study by PKF Malta on female participation in the workforce highlights that women’s activity rate in 2014 for the 15-24 age group is higher than the EU average.
This is a bitter pill when considering that the Maltese early school leaving rate is higher than the EU average. On the contrary, the female activity rates for the 25-54 and 55-64 age cohorts are less than the EU averages corresponding to the same age groups. The 25-54 strata includes many married female graduates over the age of 35 who decided to stop working.
Notwithstanding attractive concessions to encourage this untapped intellectual national asset to return to the workforce yet it seems that more is needed. A resounding digital divide exists in the 55-64 cohort, which also hinders this experienced strata of women when applying for jobs.
Further findings are included in the study which was a voluntary and unsponsored exercise conducted after several consultation meetings held with stakeholders, including Education Minister Evarist Bartolo, the GRTU, NCPE, Malta Chamber of Commerce, ETC and MCWO.