An upbeat Finance Minister yesterday told Parliament the Labour government’s two-year track record and its professional attitude towards the economy yielded positive results.
Speaking during the Budgetary Measures Implementation Bill, Edward Scicluna said that although economic growth for 2014 was projected at three per cent, economic activity had in fact increased by 3.8 per cent in the first nine months of the year.
Whilst one had to wait for the data of the last quarter to have the full picture, everything indicated that economic activity last year would have increased more than expected.
Such economic growth affected employment positively. NSO statistics showed that, last August, full-time employment increased by 3.7 per cent, or 5,871 persons.
Moreover, part-time employment as the main employment grew by 8.6 per cent, or 8,000 more persons.
Employment as a whole had grown by an average of 24 jobs a day – a record within both the EU and the eurozone.
Prof. Scicluna said the number of those registered as self-employed had also increased by 2.2 per cent, up 411 over last year.
Female employment too had continued to grow rapidly, with a 5.6 per cent increase in full-time employment, while those who chose to work part time had increased by 9.9 per cent. Both figures were unprecedented.
He said the private sector continued to be the main force behind the growth in employment as the figure of those working in the private sector had increased by over 4,000 on the previous year.
Such increases were reflected in those registering as unemployed because there were 1,114 fewer people registering as jobless when compared to last year. This was the lowest rate in seven years.
Malta had the third lowest rate of unemployment in the EU, at just 5.8 per cent. Prof. Scicluna expressed the hope that the Budget measures would serve to create more jobs.
More persons in employment meant more disposable income, he said, adding that, in fact, the retail and wholesale sectors had registered an increase of 837 employees.
This meant that the sector must have been registering greater levels of profit.
In fact, the sector had contributed strongly to the growth in GDP for the third quarter, an additional value of €18 million, when compared to the same period in the previous year.
Similarly, though international trade was down, in Europe and beyond, this was not the case for Malta.
Employment had also increased in the manufacturing sector, albeit by a modest 300 persons.
Nevertheless, this reflected the fact that, overall, the sector remained strong.
In its budgets for 2014 and 2015, the government sought to strengthen jobs. Schemes aimed at women and youth made them conclude it was better for them to work. The Budget also sought to end precarious jobs.
The government would be strong with those who abused the system.
Resources could not be drained by a small minority.
Those who had received benefits to which they were not entitled would have the opportunity to come forward and rectify the matter. The government was seeking to ensure that all sectors of society benefited from the Budget measures.
Thus, the government introduced measures that were also addressed to the elderly and persons with a disability, Prof. Scicluna said.
Robert Arrigo (PN), Frederick Azzopardi (PN) and Charles Mangion (PL) all contributed to the debate.