The European Employment Observatory Report has said that through the assistance offered by the government, four manufacturing companies hit by the global financial crisis had managed to stand up on their feet again and moved back to a five-day week, thus saving some 1,500 jobs. Furthermore, the measures led to a new investment of €9 million with a potential of 200 new job opportunities by the end of the year.
Winding up the debate on the motion on the estimates of the Employment and Training Corporation, Employment Minister Dolores Cristina told the House that the emergency measures which the government had taken had borne fruit without leaving any adverse effect on industry or the workers.
Industry alone could not re-stabilise the economy and it was only through government intervention that the jobs were safeguarded.
The government looked at employment as a tool for solidarity and social inclusion. Many of the measures taken by the ETC needed a number of years to fruition. Each report had an element of carry-over from one year to the next.
This also applied to education reform indicators. The minister announced that four vocational subjects would be introduced in secondary schools but time would be needed to see how they would develop.
Turning to the registered unemployed, Mrs Cristina said that it was true that the figure read over 7,000 but in the circumstances, she said, there was a positive indicator. In December, there were 7,680 and this decreased to 7,140 in May and further decreased to 7,023 by June 14.
She said that sustainable development was envisaged through foreign investment, including the Sports Village which was expected to create 800 jobs.
The focus of the European strategy 2020 was on employment growth. The Lisbon strategy had targeted 18 million jobs. The new strategy also caters for a substantial growth as the European Council meeting decided last May. However, the government has always been cautious because one could not compare Malta with other countries.
Once formally adopted, the European strategy 2020 would continue to provide guidelines regarding the actions that need to be taken, research and development, social inclusion, development of human resources, and life-long learning. The directorate of life-long learning was working in synergy with other entities.
Mrs Cristina said employment could not just look at the country's needs but one had to look also at job satisfaction, job mobility and employability.
Strategy 2020 must also look at the young people's career path, where MCAST was doing invaluable work. It has also to address the inclusion of older workers. Through changes in the pensions legislation, more than 7,000 OAPs are still in employment.
Turing to female employment, the minister admitted that Malta was at the lower end of the table. However, she noted that Malta did not have the culture existing in Scandinavia or eastern Europe. Those who were 45 years or older would not enter the labour market despite all family-friendly measures taken.
She also referred to the debate in the EU regarding the extension of maternity leave extension from 14 to 20 weeks, and said Malta was all for a level playing field but any changes must be gradual.
Mrs Cristina said also thanked those employers who made sacrifices to keep people in employment by affording them with a safety net.
Answering Labour MP Anġlu Farrugia, who complained that the financial report was bereft of information, the minister said the ETC's income was some one million euro. Higher wages increased the recurrent expenditure.
Regarding the need of holistic investigations, Mrs Cristina said that there need for more synergy between the ETC and the Department of Benefit Fraud, She envisaged that these two entities could become one unit in a number of years.
When employment benefits are suspended, families with children are given other benefits to avoid hardship.
Mrs Cristina said more than €2 million were earmarked for initiatives tailor-made for those seeking aid.
From the European fund, 9,000 had benefitted through an expenditure of €8.7 million. Another €4 million would come from the same fund this year.
Dr Farrugia had said profiling was not being carried out. Mrs Cristina retorted that on the contrary, employment advisers do such profiling and follow those registering for work for the first time until they become employed.
Opposition spokesman on employment Anġlu Farrugia, on Tuesday said the ETC's financial estimates for 2010 showed an expenditure of €7.3 million or an increase €1.5 million on 2009. Effectively, he said, this was less than what was spent last year. The report did not indicate whether this expenditure was directly related to the functions of the ETC as these would not go towards training or incentives.
The opposition welcomed the €1.3 million for employment and training initiatives. What were these initiatives and how many of these were financed by the European Social Fund. Would the government pay only 15 per cent? If this was the case, the ETC would be only allocating €195,000.
Dr Farrugia revealed that the ETC did not get the money due from the European fund for training in 2009 before mid-year. Until June the ETC was operating on a limited budget.
How much money from the European Fund was lost during 2009? Why the delay? Who was responsible? What steps were taken? Parliament had not been informed and people had a right to know.
Referring to female employment, he said Malta was at a very low level. There were also people with special needs who were discharged because the employment grant had been exhausted. The government had no long-term vision, especially for disadvantaged people.
Many unemployed registering for work were not profiled. Career advisers were not doing what they were trained for because of the exaggerated loads. The ETC was not reaching its goals, he said.
The Training Aids Framework (TAF) was not being administered properly. He requested the minister to declare the projected expenditure on this initiative and what had been spent. What realistic effects did this programme have? How many SMEs had benefitted? How many companies or individuals had lost out because the ETC did not keep to the time frames?
If the government believed in training, was the sum of €2,257,000 enough? Considering that 25 per cent of those registering for work were unskilled, how did the government expect to help such people when it was investing titbits?
Dr Farrugia asked whether interviews were being used to decrease unemployment figures? How many people were on contract as project leaders with the ETC? What is their turnover?
Part funding ETC for EU projects was €252,679. Dr Farrugia asked when this amount would be passed to the ETC, adding the Auditor had reported he was "unable to obtain direct confirmation of this balance from the debtor and there were no satisfactory procedures to ensure that the amount is recoverable".
Did the minister have full confidence in the ETC board?
What had led a senior ETC official to resign? Was it true that there had been an internal inquiry into cases of bribery for the granting of foreign work permits and this official had had to pay the price?
Was it true that less people were going to the ETC for training because they had lost all hope of finding employment through it? NSO figures showed that the number of people registering for work up to last April had been 7,606. This meant that in comparison with April 2009, unemployment in the 45 years age-group had increased by 376.
Other statistics showed that up to November 2009 the part-time gainfully occupied had increased, on the pretext that more people wanted more time for themselves. Did this make sense when the figure of such people amounted to 25 per cent of those registering? The statistics showed that there were 1,300 more people, or 50 per cent had part-time work as their only or major source of income.
Dr Farrugia asked if this was because it made these people feel better or because it was their only possibility of work. In November 2009 there had been 27,980 engaged in part-time work as their primary source of income - and with what conditions, it bears asking. This situation had been raised by the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin, the General Workers' Union and social partners at a colloquium organised by the Labour Party.
Skilled workers were being thrown out of employment, as in the shipyards, and no real investment was being made in the unskilled for training. Yet the government boasted that 25 per cent of the gainfully employed survived on part-time work. Where was the correct outlook?
Conditions of work were abysmal, Dr Farrugia said. People were being employed at less than the national minimum wage, even on contracts with the government. He promised that as of day one with a Labour government no worker would be allowed to work for less than minimum wage and then be called self-employed, with the worst possible degrading conditions that went against any worker's dignity.
The government should be concerned that in one year the gainfully occupied had decreased by 1,564 while unemployment in part one of the register had increased by 921. The government was even boasting that most of the increase in employment had been in real estate, with a reduction of 1,460 in manufacturing. Employment in hotels and restaurants had dropped by more than 700.
Dr Farrugia said this was a situation calling for honesty. How much was the government seriously investing in those registering for unskilled employment? He firmly believed the minister should seek to answer these questions in the best interests of the Maltese people.
In what direction was the country moving if the government was not taking seriously the opposition's comments for a better ETC and had no answers for them? These questions had also been raised in the Auditor General's report on the corporation. This was definitely not the safe pair of hands that the government boasted of.
Concluding, Dr Farrugia said the government must invest better because the people deserved better. The government's representatives should always remember that the people were the greatest investors through their taxes. It should stop playing with fire and pause to see how to do things better.
Charlo Bonnici (PN) praised the employment advisors engaged by the ETC for their dedication. 4,826 action plans for people registering for work which were submitted since January were being processed adding to 16,000 plans which were being reviewed. Jobless persons were identified for training through these plans.
The private sector made much more use than the public sector of the ETC advertising service. It also gave positive feedback to the corporation. In 2009, there was a decrease of 35 per cent in advertising. Despite this, through this service, the ETC found employment for more than 4,000 persons, 200 of which were in Gozo.
Mr Bonnici said that the ETC emergency service was a success and helped 14 companies which were in difficulty, providing information, guidance and training to their workers. The ETC also provided training to workers in another six companies which were working on a four-day week.
ETC training course, including the basic skills programmes, were accredited by the Malta Qualifications Councils. Through EU funds the ETC implemented three new projects in 2009 including employability and apprenticeship programmes. €600,000 was paid in training. €5million were allotted for the employability programme. A large amount of courses offered in training had been accredited by a known agency.
Referring to an earlier claim by Dr Anġlu Farrugia on EU funds under the Training Aids Framework, Mr Bonnici said that no such funds were lost because those companies which had yet not provided training could do so and get the percentage assistance from these funds. He admitted that there were initial bureaucratic problems in administering the €8.5 million for the European Social Fund for training. This was due to the large amount of paperwork which had to be filled in according to EU regulations. This led to delays because of the large number of applications for training from companies. Training was to be provided to 4,400 employees.
He added that more publicity was needed to advertise the Training Aids framework.
Beppe Fenech Adami (PN) said that when Parliament debated what the ETC had done in 2009 and what it proposed to do this year, this must be done in the right context. What had happened in 2008 and 2009 and was still happening today had a direct influence on the employment sector.
The crisis the world economy had gone through was almost without precedent in at least 70 years. The years 2008 and 2009 had been characterised by a collapse of the systems people had grown accustomed to working with for scores of years.
These systems had included banking, once the pillar of whole national economies and some of which had dropped out of the international scene.
Such perceived indestructible organisations today still existed only because governments had stepped in with millions of funds to bail them out. Multi-national companies employing thousands had been so badly hit that they had had to cut down their operations or close down altogether.
This was still happening even in EU member states, some of which had the euro currency, such as Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Dr Fenech Adami said that when one examined what the government had done and was doing, this should be done against the international background. The government believed in employment as a right, and was committed to taking initiatives to increase investment with the resultant creation of new jobs. It did not believe that the solution lay in the public sector, but in creating the right atmosphere for those coming onto the labour market and those who had dropped out or were looking for alternative employment.
He mentioned efforts to attract more foreign direct investment, incentives to help local industry to develop and look for new markets, and generally to help private enterprise to seek new areas of operation and create employment. Another area of attention was services and back-office work.
It was not by accident that the world outside looked at Malta as a centre of excellence in many areas, such as the maritime sector. Job creation was not a cliché but was bearing fruit. In two years more than 4,700 new companies had been registered in Malta.
Small companies and the self-employed were the major playmakers of the national economy with the jobs they created. The incentives they were given should be seen as not only intended to increase profits but also to make them more competitive and job-creative.
The situation in Malta was so good because the government had been proactive and taken the right, even if sometimes controversial, decisions. The ETC was one of the government's major movers in this regard. Up to 2,500 jobs had been saved in the face of recession through the government's intervention. Some industries had even been helped to expand and make new investments.
Last year more than 15,000 people had sought etc help to find employment - founded in early 90s, during which time it had built a structure around it and was giving a very useful service to new job seekers and others seeking alternative employment to replace lost or held jobs.
Up to 92 per cent of vacancies with the ETC coming from the private sector which appreciated its importance. It had a very important function with regard to the education of workers in every category, which was the key to ensuring employment. A small sector of people without basic skills were not only unemployed but also unemployable. This constituted one of the corporation's greatest challenges.
The ETC was also important in ensuring that there was no abuse in the creation of jobs. It was unacceptable to have a number of people who had jobs and registered as unemployed at the same time.
Concluding, Dr Fenech Adami augured that the ETC would continue as an integral link in the chain of judicious investment with a view to creating more jobs.
Stephen Spiteri (PN) said employment has always been a priority for the government. The government had taken measures and carried out reforms to safeguard jobs in the light of the global financial crisis. It also created other employment opportunities.
New investment that would create jobs had been announced and and factories, which were working on a four-day week, were now issuing a call for applications to fill vacancies.
In unemployment figures, Malta was in the sixth place among EU member-states. Through a series of measures, the ETC had last year found jobs for more than 4,200 people. This was no mean feat.
The ETC processed 30,600 engagement forms for full-time employment and 21,173 for part-time work.
Through apprenticeships and training, workers had managed to change trades and found alternative employment. It had organised over 600 courses and an increase of 1,842 participants was registered.
New incentives were being introduced to attract foreign investment and for Malta to remain competitive. This would translate in further job opportunities. Government measures had saved 250 jobs in the manufacturing industry.
Carmelo Abela (PL) said he would have liked to see an analysis on how government actions had impinged on competitiveness, not least the new utility tariffs.
He said that for various reasons, there were young people who were not registering for work and this could mean that the unemployment figures were not realistic.
Even if, when compared to other countries, Malta's position did not seem such disastrous, it did not mean that there were no problems, especially in particular sectors. He lauded certain employers who thought twice before making people redundant. The country was grateful for their social sense. It was of concern to find breadwinners who had part-time employment as their main job.
Mr Abela said the manufacturing sector had shed off 1,272 workers according to ETC statistics and, 1,810 (or eight per cent from all redundancies), according to the NSO. He said that it was a mistake to have thrown in the towel and closed down textile factories: Malta could have upgraded and went into high-fashion garments, like Italy.
Diversification was important but the government must give a direction. There was still room for the manufacturing industry. The opposition had congratulated the government when it started bailing out manufacturing companies in distress. However, it was not the case that 2,500 jobs were saved because not one of those industries helped were going to close down and transfer their activities abroad.
The other argument that the government was putting forward was that through the assistance given, the deficit had exploded. Mr Abela said this was a blatant lie and he quoted an answer to a parliamentary question in which Minister Tonio Fenech said financial assistance totalled €4,636,000. How could this sum have exploded the deficit?
During news conferences held on each occasion that industries were helped, it was said that they had bound themselves to increase employment. This has not materialised. Even the present workforce was a bit of a burden. Mr Abela asked the government to provide statistics on the number of new jobs.
Malta was not giving manufacturing the same importance that it is given in other EU-member states, where it accounts for 22 per cent of GNP and 75 per cent of the GDP. Also, 70 per cent of the work of the service industry was linked to the manufacturing industry, both directly and indirectly. This means that for every job in manufacturing, there were two others in services connected with manufacturing.
There was a need for more skilled workers and therefore a pronounced link with the educational sector. This called for vocational action at secondary level.
Mr Abela said the country must look at precarious jobs and their anti-social effects, especially difficulties in relation with the banks. Such workers could not plan for tomorrow.
He also drew the attention to the erosion of the conditions of work and called for action to be taken against those employers without fear or favour. Maltese workers were also being affected by employers who were exploiting immigrants. If these had a right to work, their rights must be respected.
Apprenticeship was not being given enough importance. And when the ETC reports underlines that the placement process proved more difficult than preceding years, much more needed to be done for the system to work properly. A revamp was needed: the ETC must work closer with the education sector, employers' associations, Malta Enterprise and with the private sector in general. There must be a new look at apprenticeship, where the success rate was high because 82 per cent remain in employment.
Concluding, Mr Abela said an analysis of the new role of the ETC should be made.