Third-country nationals make up 20% of the workforce in Malta, filling gaps that are key to maintaining a thriving economy, yet many are facing daily challenges that remain ignored, a report has shown.

According to the report, TCN workers face an “imbalanced power dynamic”. They are often “held hostage” by abusive employers who they are scared to report since their single-work permit is tied to their specific employment.

Others are raising undocumented children who cannot attend school due to stringent family reunification policies.

The realities faced by third-country nationals, who are in Malta on a single-work permit, was unfolded in a report called Beyond GDP II: Third-Country Nationals in Malta: Sharing in our Economic Future.

The research was carried out by the Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Malta and builds on the first Beyond GDP report published in 2020.

Justice and Peace president Daniel Darmanin said the presence of TCNs with single-work permits had become key in sustaining Malta’s economy “yet many remain unseen and undervalued”.

The report explored the relationship between TCNs and Malta’s economy: it shed light on their financial, social and personal realities and the challenges they face. The findings, Darmanin added, aimed to equip policymakers to make informed and compassionate decisions.

Top 10 non EU nationalities. Source: Jobsplus, August 2023

Project leader Maria Giulia Borg said TCNs were a diverse group of people from different cultures with different realities who are "helping us grow our GDP", however, "we rarely look at their quality of life".

The report was builds on research carried out with Identita, and publicly available data and information on the subject.

Interviews were also carried out with TCNs and people working with them.  

'TCNs are filling an important gap'

Economist Glenn Fenech said that, over the past 15 years the Maltese economy had more than doubled in size, reaching €15.5 billion last year.

In this time, there was a successful shift towards a services-based economy.

Malta was also faced by an ageing population: nowadays, a quarter of the native population was made up of elderly people.

The fact that the bulk of third-country nationals working in Malta were aged between 25 and 39 showed that they were plugging that gap, he said.

The employment rate stood at 78% last year, compared to 70% in the EU. He said that between 2012 and August 2023, the Maltese cohort of workers increased by 1.6%, while the number of TCNs was growing by 27% annually.

Since August 2023, about 20% of the total labour force was made of non-EU nationals with over 56,000 individuals on a single-work permit. Since then, data has no longer been made public.

Number of single-work permit TCNs in each sector. Source: Jobsplus, EY estimates

Most of these workers came from India, the Philippines and Nepal.

The majority worked in administration and support services (11,964), followed by accommodation and food services (9,462) and quarrying and construction (7,004). Many were also contributing to the knowledge-intensive sectors like professional services (3,839), gaming (1,324) and financial services (775).

The average basic salary of a Maltese person was €22,912, while that of a TCN was €18,443.

Data also showed that, while some were staying, there was a high turnover rate: in 2023, 33,000 TCNs arrived and 13,500 moved out. 

Migration of TCNs. Source: NSO

'A power imbalance'  

Ivan Cauchi, a senior lecturer, meanwhile noted that the numbers were clear: “TCNs are very present and active. They build our houses, run our shops, take care of our elderly and somehow we manage to treat these people badly".

He said the research highlighted four main challenges they faced across the board.

Many struggled with bureaucracy. They were inundated with complex paperwork they had to fill in and this was “creating a vortex of uncertainty around these people”, he said adding that this was made worse by language barriers.

They also faced employment issues especially since they operated under a single-work permit that bound them to a specific employer and specific job – limiting their mobility and acting as an obstacle in cases of abuse.

They also faced housing challenges with the rising costs of rental accommodation and discrimination with some landlords refusing to rent to them.

Then there was the issue of family reunification: they spoke about increasingly stringing income thresholds and complex requirements for family reunification. In some cases, despite having their children's ID cards rejected, the children ended up remaining in Malta as there were no care options abroad. The children "live an invisible life". 

Fenech said the public needed to acknowledge the reality that Malta needed these people.

“We need to ensure that people working in Malta have a fair and just working environment and a level playing field... We are probably falling back on our competitive edge when it comes to family reunification in sectors such as healthcare,” he said.

Borg agreed, adding that according to research, many TCNs were coming to Malta with skills they were not allowed to use due to the system.

“We need to look at what skills they have – to make best use of these skills. Policies need to take the realities of these people into account."

Bishop Joseph Galea-Curmi said that every human being, regardless of nationality or legal status, is created in the image of God. This foundational belief underscores the Church’s call to treat third-country nationals with respect and dignity and to protect their lives and their human rights. “This respect must be shown through attitudes, policies, and concrete actions,” emphasised Bishop Galea-Curmi.

More information about the report here.