A new economic migration policy will aim to better align migration with the actual needs of the labour market, Byron Camilleri said.

The policy will strengthen employment rights, ensure fair working conditions for all, and reward employers who invest in upskilling their workers, regardless of nationality, the home affairs and employment minister told Times of Malta in an interview.

The initiative comes amid concerns of a massive increase in third country national workers in Malta, especially in the last decade.

The government’s policy is built on four key principles: prioritising the needs of those already contributing to the local economy, safeguarding the dignity of all workers, promoting stability and retention, and encouraging the upskilling and reskilling of employees, he said.

It will be the government’s latest effort to crack down on worker exploitation while preventing the influx of foreign workers in saturated industries.

“It will be a policy in favour of workers, it will push for more stability and retention in all sectors, it will invest in worker upskilling and re-skilling and adopt a skills-based approach that identifies which industries need more workers and which have enough,” Camilleri said.

“Some sectors – like healthcare – need more workers but other sectors – like cabs and food delivery services – have enough, and this policy will help Jobsplus identify where and when workers are needed.”

He emphasised that economic migration will only be permitted to address labour or skills shortages identified in the labour market.

For example, even if the ride-hailing sector requests more foreign workers, Jobsplus may reject applications if its analysis indicates the sector is already saturated.

A consultation on the policy’s key principles and recommendations will start in the coming weeks.

The government first indicated it would tackle excess foreign worker employment earlier this summer, announcing that new applications by third-country nationals for cab driving and food courier work permits were being turned down because the market had “reached saturation”.

But Camilleri would not elaborate on the specific changes and would not say what other sectors Jobsplus believed were saturated.

When asked whether construction – like the cab sector – had also reached a saturation point, he would only say the policy will likely oblige construction workers to get a skills pass, similar to the one introduced in the tourism industry last year.

When children must leave

Camilleri said he also recently intervened to stop children of third-country national workers from being forced to return to their home countries.

The children had come to Malta legally, benefitting from a family reunification policy, but when circumstances around the employment of their parents changed, they could not legally continue to live in Malta.

“We ran assessments, identified genuine cases and took the decision to make sure the children are not made to go back to their countries. Some were even born here,” he said.

“Our aim is to help these people improve their livelihoods in our country.”

Malta’s family reunification policy permits family members of individuals legally residing in Malta to join them if the individual has the financial means to sustain them and is able to provide them with adequate housing.

Look out for the full interview with Byron Camilleri on Times of Malta shortly