National Employment Action Plan 'realistic'

The Malta Employers' Association has welcomed the government's National Action Plan for Employment.

It said the creation of 10,000 to 12,000 jobs by 2010 was a more realistic target than the Lisbon target which envisaged 30,000 new jobs in Malta by the end of the decade.

The MEA said the target for raising the female participation rate was realistic and substantiated by measures that encou"raged such an increase. "However, the increase in female participation does not depend exclusively on economic incentives but also on sociological factors that may take a longer period to change," it said.

The targets related to increasing older workers' employment rate can be achieved, according to the MEA, if there is stricter control of boarding out and early retirement schemes.

The targets set by the report related to education were also commendable, it said, particularly that of increasing the percentage of persons with upper secondary school education. "There should be further elaboration to specify targets for more qualified people in the sciences and technological disciplines with the appropriate incentives to bring this about," the MEA said.

The MEA said it fully supported initiatives to increase the number of adults in lifelong learning and also to provide training to public sector employees. "This will facilitate the redeployment of public sector employees and thus enhance productivity in this sector. The report should, however, include projections of a shift in employment from the public sector into the private sector. This will reduce the financial burden of employing such a high rate of the labour force in the public service and government-owned corporations."

The association said the measures listed under strategic priorities were all extremely relevant to the labour market situation. "The main weakness lies in the fact that there is not sufficient emphasis on the third strategy - i.e. enhancing the business environment. Ultimately, the measures listed in the plan can only materialise if there are sufficient incentives for business to flourish through appropriate fiscal and monetary policies.

"The report does not delve into this, presumably because it is not within its terms of reference to do so.

"However, the measures mentioned - the social pact and the creation of a one stop shop for business - are important for enhancing the business environment. The social pact will provide for industrial relations stability and the one stop shop concept will serve to curb the stifling bureaucracy existing in many government departments today," the MEA said.