Joseph Muscat has announced that he intends to solve the problem of NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training). He said a future Labour government would guarantee that every youngster older than 16 would be studying, training or working.
I can’t see how Joseph Muscat can make good on his promise to guarantee that every youth over the age of 16 is either gainfully employed or in training- Claire Bonello
Anybody who had stopped studying and remained unemployed for six months would be given training focused on their abilities and finding work.
Well, amen to that. Who could disagree with a proposal to catapult young people into the labour market and on their way to career success?
Focused training sounds pretty good too. It certainly beats having young people mooching around waiting for their benefits cheque to pop on the mat. Any plans to transform the NEETs to busy bees are all to the good.
I’m a bit sceptical about the way things are going to work out though. How is a school leaver who hasn’t amassed enough skills during the years of compulsory schooling, going to acquire them so quickly afterwards?
If Johnny has left school, thinking he can get by in the real world just by knowing textese and how to tot up his online gaming scores, how is he going to be able to fill in the huge skills gap he has?
There’s going to be so much to catch up on that Johnny is going to be overwhelmed and look longingly at his sofa, where he spent so many hours watching Deċeduti.
Even if Johnny figures out how to spell half-decently and that it would be wiser to stop uploading photos of the last night he spent out on the tiles for all to see, it is highly unlikely he would qualify for a high-paying job.
Of course, a modestly-paid job is better than no job at all, but try telling that to people who conclude that it makes more financial sense to continue receiving benefits than to work.
The trouble with Muscat’s announcement is not the intention behind it. No one could argue with a proposition to improve educational and training opportunities.
But I can’t see how he can make good on his promise to guarantee that every youth over the age of 16 is either gainfully employed or in training. Because this would mean that everybody – no matter how woefully inept and under-qualified – would be guaranteed a job.
There are two ways of making good on such a promise – and both involve burdening thetaxpayer.
The first would consist of the time-honoured method (at least in Maltese politics) of absorbing thousands of NEETs into the public sector.
Once they are on the books of some parastatal corporation, they wouldn’t show up as being unemployed and Muscat could claim he had kept his word regarding their employment.
Only their employment would be artificial, seeing as there had been no prior need for their job. We will have thousands of young people making tea and fetching takeouts or manning the office coffee maker – at the expense of the taxpayer, of course.
If inflating the public sector looks too much like the 1980s revisited, I suppose subsidies to the private sector would be the route chosen by the Labour leader.
He has hinted as much – saying that the funding for the programmes may not be borne exclusively by the state but through a public-private partnership.
Maybe Muscat would like to emulate the British government, which is going to subsidise 160,000 work places by providing £2,275 (€2,800) to any private sector business willing to hire an unemployed person aged 18 to 24.
Again, this would involve taxpayers’ money to fund the subsidies.
Any way you look at it, there’s going to be the outlay of public funds to finance these artificial jobs created for people who do not have the skills, qualifications or maybe, the inclination, to find a job on their own merits.
As projects go, it’s as unsustainable and unaffordable as that other pre-electoral promise – the PN’s Malta to Gozo tunnel.
And the NEETs? Perhaps the solution lies in instilling the common sense notion that there are consequences to our actions or lack of them.
If Johnny has spent his school years goofing around and neglecting his studies, he can’t expect to land himself a prime job – especially if it’s subsidised by others.
Guaranteeing that he will find a job no matter what is simply encouraging him to keep on sponging.
cl.bon@nextgen.net.mt