A large majority of professionals are fearing for their job security but many are being denied financial aid, a federation of professional associations has said. 

The Malta Federation of Professional Associations found that 74.5 per cent of professional respondents to a survey said they were afraid of losing their jobs. 

The survey, which looked into professionals and their work, was carried out in May with 834 respondents from individuals in the professional sector. 

Healthcare professionals made up the bulk of respondents at 69.4%, with 55.7% being full-time employees. 

All professionals experienced financial losses during this period, the survey indicated. 19.3% reported up to a 25% loss income; 10.4% up to a 50% loss; 9.2% up to a 75% loss and 6.4% said they had experienced a total loss of their income. 

More than three out of every four professionals who said they had lost all their income worked in the healthcare sector. 

Only 52 people, or 6.1% of respondents, said they were made redundant during the COVID-19 pandemic. The majority of these, 62%, were self-employed.  

A previous survey carried out by the MFPA in April found that 92.8% of the self-employed respondents reported a loss in April with 22.8% of those suffering a total loss of their income, 40% between 90% and 75% and 30% of them suffering a loss of between 50% to 25% of their income.

No aid

The majority of full-time employees working in the private sector (69%) said they were not eligible for financial aid as announced by the government. Only 7.9% of the self-employed were eligible for grants. 

A slight percentage of respondents (2.7%) said they were employers with a mix of professional and ancillary employees. 56% of employers said that their staff could be at risk of losing their jobs. 

In their additional comments, many self-employed respondents noted that they were drastically reducing their practice to comply with health authority guidelines, placing additional strain on employees and their families, while not being eligible to apply for benefits on either their or their employees’ behalf, despite experiencing a similar, if not a higher reduction in activity as other sectors. 

The MFPA said it was dismayed that professionals who were not listed as eligible in the government’s grant schemes announced last Monday were being left out in the cold, despite incurring hardship and financial losses. 

“Professionals, especially those that are self-employed and employers, still have had to pay rent and water and electricity bills, despite the fact that their practices were either entirely closed or were obliged to drastically reduce the services they provided with the provision of basic emergency cover to assist very urgent cases,” the association said. 

It urged the government to take its findings into account and widen the scope of financial incentives to include all affected professionals.