Half of the new jobs being created are taken up by foreigners, the vast majority of whom are EU citizens, Employment Minister Evarist Bartolo said during a news conference this morning.

“This is a trend which has been going on for years,” he said, stressing that the overwhelming majority were EU citizens not sub-Saharans, as some people seemed to want to believe.

“Some jobs must necessarily go to people from overseas. For instance, if a company is mainly operating in the Swedish language or in German, they will not find enough Maltese with that language competence.”

Over the years, Malta has lost important skills such as those related to the construction industry.

“So it’s not just about attitudes, where some Maltese refuse to work as waiters or as cleaners but it is also down to the fact that we have neglected to develop necessary skills.”

Employment and Training Corporation chairman Clyde Caruana said that during this legislature, the number of people registered as unemployed went down from 7,800 to under 5,000 people.

The rate of youth unemployment in Malta has registered one of the best improvements across the EU, with the rate declining to 8.7 per cent of people aged between 15 and 24. Only Germany surpassed Malta in lowering its youth unemployment, Mr Caruana said.

Meanwhile, during the first quarter of this year, 66.1 per cent of people aged between 20 and 64 years were in employment. Mr Caruana was confident that the 2020 target of 70 per cent will be reached.

Economy Minister Chris Cardona said that eight out of every 10 new jobs were being created by the private sector.  

“The time where politicians try to claim the absolute merit for creating jobs – as used to happen during the previous administration – has ended.

“The government is there to stimulate job creation through incentives, schemes and social and education policies to maximise the potential of the Maltese.”