Small and medium businesses increasingly worried about quality of life

Small and medium-sized businesses are increasingly concerned about quality of life, according to a recent survey.

More than a fifth (around 23%) of businesses selected ‘safeguarding quality of life’ as one of the two most important issues the country is facing and which the government should be focusing on, a jump of around a third from the previous edition of the survey.

The two biggest concerns – in line with previous results – were overpopulation, which more than a third of businesses pointed to as their main concern, and a lack of good governance, which came in second at just under a third.

Around a quarter pointed to the level of corruption in the country, followed by quality of life, which saw the biggest jump in concern from the last quarterly edition of the small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SME) barometer from the Chamber of SMEs.

The chamber noted that “businesses are looking for comprehensive, long-term policies rather than short-term or poorly developed measures”.

Overpopulation remained the most pressing concern, but quality of life has re-emerged as an important issue. Graphic: Chamber of SMEs.

In terms of issues affecting businesses directly, a shortage of employees (46%) remained the biggest issue, followed by unfair competition (23%) and excessive competition (17%), mirroring previous editions of the barometer.

Businesses highlighted that issues with the processing of visa applications for non-EU workers linked to the new Malta Migration Policy, rolled out in August, had “led to more complications”.

They said that industries “heavily reliant on skilled labour” were especially affected by employee shortages in the local market, adding that a “skills mismatch” had “continued to gain significance as a challenge businesses face”.

Despite the concerns, the proportion of businesses signalling confidence in investing over the next 12 months was at its highest level in the past year, rising to 21% - a jump of five percentage points from the lowest results in the first quarter of this year.

Most SMEs (54%) were not sure if the next 12 months would be a good time to invest, however, while a quarter (25%) said it was not.

Most SMEs still believe the country is heading in the wrong direction. Graphic: Chamber of SMEs.

And while businesses overwhelmingly said they believed the country was going in the wrong direction (66%), opinions were slightly more favourable than the last version of the barometer, when 70% of enterprises said the country was not going in the right direction.

The chamber called for existing schemes targeting sole traders and micro enterprises to be enhanced, and the threshold for maximum credit claims for small businesses to be increased from €50,000 to €70,000.

The establishment of a “centralised advisory platform” to help guide businesses on accessing green and digital funding opportunities, and a “comprehensive review” of regulations to “identify overlaps and redundancies“ were also among the chamber’s recommendations.

Grants, tax credits and low-interest loans were also recommended to encourage businesses to invest in digital tools and technologies.

More than 450 businesses were surveyed online for the barometer between October 6 and 16.