Working more... producing less

The Nationalist government has reduced the number of public holidays for Maltese workers to improve the country's productivity and global competitiveness. This year we will have 10 public holidays; less than Singapore (11), India (12), China (12), the United States (13), Malaysia (14), Japan (15) and South Korea (16). Eighteen other European Union member states (Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Spain, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Austria, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden) will have more public holidays than us this year.

If we combine the number of public holidays with the minimum annual leave employees are legally entitled to in the EU we will also find that the government's decision to make our employees lose the public holidays that fall on weekends is pushing us down towards the bottom of the heap. Employees in most of the other EU states have more annual leave and public holidays than us.

A survey carried out by the British recruitment company Manpower shows that simply reducing the number of holidays does not improve the economic competitive position of a country in the world. Despite having the shortest holidays and the longest working hours in the EU, the United Kingdom has one of the lowest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per working population in Europe. Austria has the longest holiday time in Europe with 38 days and has an above average European GDP per working population. The same can be said of France and Luxembourg.

In comparing 2002 GDP-per-hour levels in France, Germany and the UK, which, together with the US, have a base fixed at 100, France tops the list at 103, Germany comes in at 101 and the UK bottoms out at 79. Some economists say that because French workers put in overall less time they perform better than workers in other countries. The problem thus is not lack of productivity but the amount of hours worked.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reprimanded the EU, saying more focus needs to be put on the use of labour to maintain Europe's competitiveness in a globalised world. Michael Deppler, director of the IMF's European department and mission chief to the euro area, said: "Productivity is not Europe's problem. The productivity levels per hour in Europe are basically on a par with those of the United States and there is no lag there. The real lag is in terms of use of labour and that's where the catch-up needs to be".

Productivity and competitiveness is a complex reality made up of hundreds of factors and the number of holidays is just one factor and cannot be seen as a quick-fix solution to making a country more successful in the global economy. There is a vast field of economic knowledge that analyses the facts and policies that shape the ability of a country to develop the right business environment that creates jobs and wealth.

The level of corruption in a country is more important for foreign direct investment than the number of holidays enjoyed by the workforce. To put it mildly, the Nationalist government has not always provided the necessary framework ensuring fairness and transparency when it has sold national assets or issued international tenders. Our government's inefficiency and red tape, making potential investors wait long months, are also very damaging and make us much less competitive.

The level of local taxation, fees and other government-induced costs also contribute to our loss of competitiveness. More than 75 per cent of our unemployed lack the basic skills to find a job in today's economy. Their ranks are swelled every year by 2,000 teenagers who leave our secondary schools without passing their exams in Maltese, English and Maths and deprived of any vocational skill.

Compared to all the other EU countries we have the lowest number of graduates in science and technology and so lack the knowledge workers we need to attract new investment.

In a world of low-cost and highly skilled competitors, the recipe for our country's economic success has to be more sophisticated than simply reducing the number of holidays.

Mr Bartolo is a Labour member of Parliament.

evaristbartolo@hotmail.com