Though Malta is making headway on raising the rate of working women, the relatively low level of skills of the Maltese workforce means the improvements will not translate into strong gains in living standards, according to the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin.

The conclusion comes from a report presented by the union to the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD).

The union is calling for the document to serve as a platform for discussion that would lead to political parties and stakeholders signing a memorandum of understanding by the end of the year to address the challenges in the sector.

“It is very important that the agreement is signed so that the policies are implemented,” union general secretary Josef Vella said.

The document analyses Malta’s work participation rate and concludes that the country is well on its way to meeting the EU average by 2020. However, while Europe is expecting to reduce the number of workers who only have a minimum set of skills to 13 per cent of the workforce by 2020, Malta will still have some 50 per cent of workers with this level.

At this pace, Maltese workers will converge with their European counterparts in terms of skills only by 2045.

This will have a drag effect on Malta’s productivity in relation to the EU and on its expectations regarding the improvement of living standards, the union has argued.

To this end, the union is calling for more investment in Malta’s human capital as well as more incentives for people to work and discourage living off unemployment benefits.

“We wanted to create an active plan to upscale the skilled workforce as we believe it’s fundamentally important,” he said. “More skills will lead to more productivity”.