Low-skilled workers most in demand until October

Most of the occupations that will be in demand by employers until October were low-skilled, the Employment and Training Corporation's first employment barometer has found.

The barometer, which was launched yesterday, forecasts demand from April to October.

It was carried out with the assistance of the Swedish National Labour Market Board and is to be used as a model for similar projects to be conducted for the first time in Turkey and Bulgaria.

Chief executive John Camilleri said the finding led to the question: why were the people registering for employment, most of whom were low-skilled, not being matched to the available jobs?

Could it be they were better off registering for employment and maybe working in the black economy; were they finding social benefits to be enough to get by; were the conditions of work being offered not good enough, he asked.

Edwin Camilleri, manager of the ETC's Labour Market Information Unit, said that 357 employers employing 82,200 workers were questioned for the barometer.

A total of 228 responded, representing 63 per cent of the sample. Those who replied employ 35,233 persons.

According to their responses, the top 10 occupations that will be in demand for the period under review were waiters, sewing machine operators, machine operators and assemblers, factory hands or labourers, electrical engineers, administrative officers, swimming pool attendants, housekeeping and related workers, food and beverage staff, and managers in restaurants and hotels.

Five of the occupations listed were in the tourism industry, reflecting the element of seasonality.

A total of 10 per cent of the occupations demanded by employers required only basic literacy, 36 per cent did not require a qualification, while 17 per cent necessitated a tertiary level of education.

In the survey, employers expressed overall optimism for their business prospects for the period April to October.

In fact, 43 per cent of those interviewed expected a rise in the demand for their products. These included employers from the wholesale and retail trade, community and business and the hotel and catering sectors. This, however, could be a seasonal phenomenon.

Employers expected an overall three per cent increase in their number of full- and part- time jobs in the period under review. Past trends showed that such a seasonal increase was plausible, with higher employment prospects expected within the food, transport and hotels and catering sectors.

Thirty-three per cent said that between October last and March, they experienced a drop in their products' demand. This was triggered by a number of conditions including the further removal of levies and the September 11 terrorist attacks.

During the same period, 29 per cent of the surveyed employers reported a rise in their demand. These were mainly employers from the wholesale and retail trade and from the community and business sectors. The rest expressed no change in their demand.

Mr Edwin Camilleri said that 39 per cent of the surveyed employers did not face skill shortages or recruitment problems. The remaining employers faced shortages with 18 per cent of them declaring that this was slowing their operations.

31 per cent of employers facing skill shortages said this was due to the absence of the necessary qualifications and 32 per cent said it was due to a lack of skilled human resources.

Employers declared they solved their shortages through longer recruitment procedures, a relaxation in the skill competency, qualification and experience requirements, an internal redistribution of work or through the recruitment of foreigners.

ETC chairman Robert Tufigno said that although no new discoveries had been made, what used to be known from experience was now established through direct contact with employers.

The idea was to establish employers' employment needs and demands for the next six to 12 months, to identify any skills gaps and shortages and to establish a labour forecasting technique after a series of similar surveys were held.

The survey is now to be held every six months and once the ETC opened its career guidance office within the university premises, it would be in a better position to guide students to plan their career and understand the needs of the employment world, Mr Tufigno said.