Almost 70 per cent of the 3,500 spot checks carried out by Jobsplus inspectors in 2017 were found to be breaking employment laws, new data has revealed.

According to figures included in the Jobsplus annual report, tabled in Parliament last week, inspectors found some illegality or other in 2,432 of the inspections carried out by the Law Compliance Unit last year.

The unit initiated 460 cases in court, while a further 353 cases were processed during the year.

Jobsplus said that the Law Compliance Unit had focused its inspections on larger-scale businesses and activities. Six joint inspections were also carried out with the Immigration Police.

“Though instances of human trafficking were not detected [during the inspections], a number of employers were arraigned by police to answer for breaches against the Immigration Act,” the report said.

The demand continues to be significant, and employers cannot find enough people

Jobsplus chairman Clyde Caruana was not impressed with the number of infringements of employment laws.

Speaking to the Times of Malta, Mr Caruana said that while infringements should never be condoned, many employers found themselves in a desperate situation to employ people.

Some employers were stuck between a rock and a hard place when they tried to fill vacancies, Mr Caruana said, adding that some simply “do not even have the patience to wait for their papers to be in order”.

“The demand continues to be significant, and employers cannot find enough people,” he said.

Mr Caruana added that employers ended up taking the risk of hiring someone whose documentation was not yet ready, irrespective of the consequences.

Insisting that this was wrong on all accounts, he conceded that as the economy continued to grow, employers “need to find labour from somewhere”.

He said it was important that employers plan ahead when it came to engaging new people.

They need to think in advance to give the relevant authorities enough time to complete forms. Jobsplus has been recruiting more staff to keep up with the heavy influx of paperwork.

Speaking on online programme Times Talk recently, Mr Caruana warned the time might come when the country would have to stop the importation of labour.

“We can grow the economy by becoming more productive, as opposed to bringing in more people,” he said.