The need for a skilled labour force and a balanced population growth has never been more pressing. There has been a wave of concern across the country on the increase in third-country nationals coming into Malta, prompting all stakeholders to ask the question of what can be done to achieve the right balance in this regard.
In order to achieve a sustainable and balanced population growth, we must first look at the root of the cause.
Our ageing population is continuously on the rise and, simultaneously, childbirth rates keep declining year-on-year. The net effect of all this is a large gap between the country’s capacity requirements and the availability of human capital.
This large labour gap presents the need for importation of foreign workers from across the globe: both from within Europe and outside of it. Without such importation – as things stand – our economy and our well-being stand to lose greatly.
The source of the problem is therefore clear: our persistent and ever-increasing labour gap has prompted the need for foreign workers. This has, in turn, been used and abused by certain temping agencies across the country.
Temping agencies play a crucial role here. They are currently one of the means, in a perhaps fast-track manner, for third country nationals to come over to Malta, to work and live here – even if the job is way below the level of skill of the third country national. The aim for most of these workers might be simply to reach Europe, irrelevant of the job application.
Lest we forget that these people are travelling over to stable countries like ours for a better quality of life for themselves and their families.
We have all heard too many stories of abuse and exploitation of these vulnerable foreign workers for too long and the regulation of such temping agencies presents the first step in fighting the persistent foreign population growth in Malta while also the persistent labour gap.
As announced in the budget speech, temping agencies would all need to undergo a licensing process and be licensed to operate by June 2024. This means that our country is taking a step in the right direction in securing a sustainable future in this area, without hampering the country’s economic potential.
Childbirth rates keep declining year-on-year- Steve Ellul
Regulating temping agencies is not just another process to control the flow of third country nationals, that aims to feed a narrative of control over the quantity of foreign nationals. But, rather, it is a step in implementing checks and balances and increasing transparency, which will automatically reduce exploitation.
This measure as a standalone, however, might still not be enough. Tackling the growing amounts of third-country nationals brought to Malta is just one piece of the puzzle. The persistent labour gap remains another.
In fact, this comes at a time when the government has just recently announced the introduction of a skills card in the hospitality industry, an industry which is one of the most reliant on foreign workers.
This skills card will aim to set a standard and a quality certificate to workers in this industry, which will automatically aid to reduce the persistent labour gap.
In tandem, the introduction of new rental regulations will continue to work against the over-importation of foreign workers and will continue to help in striking the right balance between what the country needs and what it is receiving.
These measures, overall, are just the beginning of a wide-ranging period of economic and societal reform. The vision is clear: we want a sustainable future of human resources, quality careers, talent and dignity to third country nationals who are willing to contribute to our common prosperity.
And our country has the means to achieve that.
Investing in our police force and other enforcement agencies is part of the puzzle of where this country wants to go: a growing sustainable economy, a stronger social fabric, not afraid of taking important decisions, heading towards the right direction.
Steve Ellul is a chartered financial analyst.