Much has been made of the fact that no fewer than 7,000 new jobs were generated in the Nationalist government's first year since its re-election in March 2008. Politicians simply love quoting figures to show progress and, in this case, the figure of new jobs is heartening, confirming that the island had continued to move ahead in employment. But circumstances are now changing fast and boasting about the past may seem a bit out of place in the face of mounting pressures on both manufacturing industry, particularly on firms geared for the export market, and tourism. In fact, a string of official figures published over recent weeks show the magnitude of the problems in no uncertain terms.

Take, for example, the number of jobs that Malta would need to generate to meet the target set by the EU.

According to the latest calculations, more than 77,000 people would have to join the labour force over the next 10 years for Malta to reach the target of having 70 per cent of the adult population working. Is this realistic?

When a number of firms are now on a short working week and the government is having, wisely, to enter into specific deals with firms to help them retain their workforce, it does not seem so. The Prime Minister has already practically ruled out any likelihood that Malta would be able to meet the target and in his opinion this would need to be revised.

How has the 77,000 figure been worked out? Some 37,000 jobs would be made vacant by retiring workers over the next 10 years. Besides filling these vacancies, 40,000 additional jobs would be required to raise the activity rate of people at work from 59 per cent to 70 per cent, to reach the Lisbon target for 2010.

According to one report, the number of women in the labour market rose from 33.9 per cent to 35.8 per cent between 2002 and 2007 but, clearly, the figure is as yet far short of the target.

Higher education standards make more and more women take up work and a growing number are also going into professional careers, to which they often return after they get married and have children. In the budget for this year, the government has provided for tax benefits for women who opt to return to work after an absence of five years. This may be a good incentive but it would need to be supported by other measures, such as the opening of more child day care centres. Encouraging other female workers, in a higher age bracket, to join the workforce is even more difficult as these may find it next to impossible to make the move back to work and, in any case, there would first have to be jobs to return to.

Here lies the crux of the problem. It was difficult enough generating jobs in normal times. When order books are shrinking, the problem for a number of firms is holding on to the workforce they have on their payroll. With the number of registered unemployed in the first month this year rising by 8.12 per cent, to 6,988, the problem of generating new job openings is definitely one that presents serious challenges to the government and to the country. Yet, the challenge would have to be met if the social welfare system is to be sustained in the way it is operating now.