Malta’s minimum wage is inadequate to live a decent life and should be raised, ADPD has said.

The party’s chairperson Carmel Cacopardo said that a Caritas report published on Friday further drove this point home and should serve as a basis for ensuring everyone was assured a decent standard of living.

The Caritas report found that a family of four needs at least €13,900 a year to live a decent life in Malta. When adding in other expenses – such as owning a car or paying commercial rent – costs shoot up to €25,000 a year.

Malta’s national minimum wage is of €181 per week, which amounts to just under €800 a month or around €9,500 per year.

Minimum wages have come under scrutiny in recent weeks following EU plans to introduce a minimum wage directive which would require member states to ensure minimum wages are set at at least 60 per cent of median wages and 50 per cent of average ones.

For Malta to reach the EU Commission’s proposed benchmark, Malta would have to raise its minimum wage by €71 a week or more than €3,600 a year, ADPD noted.

The country is among a number of member states which have written to the EU Commission to discourage it from pushing ahead with its plans. The government wants Brussels to make the new standards a recommendation, rather than obligation, arguing that minimum wages should remain the sovereignty of individual countries. 

“ADPD understands why the Maltese government is opposing this directive,” Cacopardo said on Saturday. “Implementing it would not only raise the quality of life of anyone on the minimum wage. It would also threat economic sectors which are reliant on cheap labour.”

Cacopardo nevertheless welcomed Prime Minister Robert Abela’s pledge to seriously consider the Caritas report’s recommendations, saying it augured well for Malta taking its first steps towards ensuring its minimum wage was enough to ensure a decent quality of life.