Our society is constantly evolving. New challenges need to be managed with accurate information beyond the perceptions that many of us may have about how life today is different from the way it used to be.
One of the best ways to gather reliable information is a periodic national census that delves into socio-economic issues that currently influence the way people conduct their lives.
The government has announced that in October and November, 520,000 people living in Malta would be asked to participate in an online survey.
This census is an essential tool to map the state of Maltese society. Its results should help policymakers come up with new socio-economic strategies that would hopefully lead to improving our society’s fabric.
A significant development in this national census methodology is the introduction of a skills audit. Finance Minister Clyde Caruana commented that this survey is essential because it will help the country understand the nature of the skills base of local workers.
It will also undoubtedly help identify the skills gaps that will need to be bridged to prepare the workforce for tomorrow’s demands on the labour market. The advance of digital technologies like robotics and artificial intelligence presents the EU member states, including Malta, with great opportunities for growth. But the challenges are not to be underestimated. Some sectors, such as healthcare and education, continue to lag in the adoption of digital tools to improve productivity.
A shortage of digital and technological skills to successfully and rapidly implement technology-led initiatives is a bottleneck that needs to be eliminated.
To close the skills gap and best equip workers to operate in an increasingly digitalised and automated world, the government and the business community need to focus on recruiting, upskilling and reskilling efforts. This will be particularly challenging for Malta, which still lags behind many EU countries in educational achievement.
Another new area that the coming census will address is the gathering of information about people’s race, sexual orientation, religion and language.
It is refreshing that social taboos no longer inhibit the gathering of sensitive information. This time the census will collect data on realities that were in the past considered inappropriate for social research.
This census must also help uncover other disturbing situations that exist in our society. For instance, child poverty, inadequate housing conditions, domestic abuse, and the challenges faced by the sandwich generation – middle-aged women who have to care for elderly relatives while bringing up a family or pursuing a career. These shadow realities need to be brought out into the light. Only by acknowledging and documenting these often-ignored segments of society can policymakers draw up effective strategies to support those who fall through the social security safety net. The focus on the state of the family should be a crucially important element of this census. Pope Francis and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi have recently made a powerful case for more support for families.
In the context of falling birth rates in western countries, the Pope argued that “without families, there is no future”. Draghi argued that young people need to have secure jobs, an affordable house, and adequate childcare services to be encouraged to start new families.
The results of the census should provide formidable tools for government, business and even civil society leaders to define strategies of empowerment: policies that ultimately create wealth and promote well-being across all communities.