In the last couple of weeks two bits of news hit the media locally. When addressing the 50th anniversary conference of the Malta Employers Association, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said that a quarter of last year’s fifth formers are doing nothing. This is a conclusion of a study conducted to find out what young people were doing after completing compulsory education.

Mr Bartolo referred to a census that was to be published by the Employment and Training Corporation among youths who are unemployed and inactive. It is important to note that this census was to cover 7,000 persons. The results of this census were in fact published this week and it was reported that more than 1,000 of such youths could not be located.

Two points emerge from this. First, why should our country have 7,000 youths who are unemployed and inactive? Secondly, what are these 1,000 youths who could not be located, doing?

Linked to these two points is a third point – what are the risks of having a quarter of last year’s fifth formers doing nothing?

Malta cannot have a generation of youths idling away, with little hope of moving into productive employment. It would make mockery of our claim that our most important resource is human resources

We are all very happy to note the number of youths registering as unemployed. We are also glad to note that an increasing number of youths who finish compulsory education, continue with their studies. We are pleased to note that employment continues to increase.

However, we should also take note of the fact that we are creating a significant group of young people (who will eventually become adults) who feel marginalised. As the ETC census points out, such people feel that they do not even form part of Maltese society. Worse still, they feel that the problems leading to their situation were so entrenched in Maltese society that 90 per cent felt the situation would never change, no matter what the government did. A number said that their confidence was too low to even attempt getting a job.

We need to admit that this is a serious problem, irrespective of how well the economy is doing. In fact, I greatly appreciate the fact that there has been no attempt to hide the issue and that the issue has been brought into the open to allow for open and honest discussion.

That discussion needs to be based on the premise that this is not a problem that has arisen overnight and that it cannot be resolved overnight. We have consistently made big strides in education over the last decades; but the system appears to have let down a number of students.

When I became chairman of ETC in 1992, I was lucky to have had as a member of the board for a few months the late George Borg (of VF fame). I remember him insisting that although it was necessary for the country to invest in further education (be it tertiary, be it vocational) to create a workforce that could take on the challenge of doing jobs that required a higher level of skills, the country should never forget that there will always be a segment of around15 per cent that will be able to perform only a low-skilled job.

He would therefore insist on the need to give particular attention to such persons and keep in mind that it was important for the country to generate employment opportunities at all levels. From the data that has been published, it appears that we have failed in achieving this.

Having a significant chunk of the population idling away, at best doing only temporary jobs or working in the black market, will lead to social problems. Such social problems could well destabilise the whole economy. No country can afford to have a two-speed economy, more so Malta because of its small size.

My hope is that this subject does not enter the political arena. Malta cannot have a generation of youths idling away, with little hope of moving into productive employment. It would make mockery of our claim that our most important resource is our human resources. It is an issue that we need to address with some urgency, with all hands on deck. There is no scope for idling away, as eventually the whole of the economy will suffer.