(Adds PN's reply)

The shadow minister for employment, Anġlu Farrugia, said today that the prime minister should apologise to the unemployed for claiming that the government had created 20,000 jobs since 2008.

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Speaking at a press conference, Dr Farrugia noted how the government's pre-budget document said that 4,256 jobs had been created between 2008 and 2011.

The government, in making its 20,000 jobs claim, was including in its figures job transfers, reactivated contracts and replaced workers, classifying them as new jobs, Dr Farrugia said.

He said this was not right, adding that the claim of 20,000 new jobs was 'a lie' and an insult to job seekers.

In a reply, the Nationalist Party said that Dr Farrugia was not capable of differentiating between new jobs and an increase in employment.

This, the PN said, was not the first time that Dr Farrugia, as well as PL leader Joseph Muscat, showed they were not capable of analysing statistics.

The PN insisted that 20,000 new jobs were created in four years thanks to the private sector.