This newspaper carried four contributions earlier on this week, all somehow connected with each other – the employment of non-Maltese workers from outside the European Union.
My objective today is to create the link among these four contributions and draw a consideration from such a link.
However, let me start with some data that emerged from the last Standard Eurobarometer published last Friday. This data explains the sentiment of the Maltese in relation to the economy and their own employment, and the presence of workers from outside the EU.
Sixty per cent judge their current job situation to be very good or rather good, and only five per cent expect their personal job situation to get worse in the coming 12 months. Fifty-six per cent of respondents stated that they judge the current economic situation of Malta as very good or rather good.
On the other hand, perceptions about the future are not that positive, as 30 per cent expect the economic situation to get worse in the coming 12 months, 17 per cent expect it to get better, and 45 per cent expect it to remain the same.
The Maltese appear concerned about the future of the economy, which will eventually have an impact on their own employment
Turning to immigration, one notes that for 76 per cent stated that it evokes a negative feeling, while only 34 per cent of respondents stated that immigrants contribute positively to Malta.
As such, the Maltese do not appear concerned about the current situation, but appear concerned about the future of the economy, which will eventually have an impact on their sentiment about their own employment. Moreover, the presence of workers from outside the EU is not seen positively at all.
This week, the National Statistics Office stated that full-time gainfully occupied increased by 7.5 per cent in July compared to the same month in 2022. In absolute terms, this represents 19,132 persons. If one were looking at just top-line numbers, one would be correct to state that this is a very healthy employment situation.
In answer to a parliamentary question, the home affairs minister stated that in 2022, the authorities issued 27,549 residence permits for workers from non-EU countries, more than three times the number of the previous year. There are 67,531 third-country nationals working in Malta at present, and that is just the official number.
Therefore, the increase in employment can probably be fully attributed to the increase in non-EU workers. The question I have posed a number of times is whether this is making our economy more or less sustainable, since most of these workers are earning very low salaries and are not contributing anything to our skills base.
In an interview with the journalist Mark Laurence Zammit, the CEO of Identità Malta stated that the problem is not the foreign workers but that we have reversed the principles of recruitment. Malta is bringing more workers than it needs, with the skills it does not need. Later on in the interview, he stated that we must identify the specific skills our economy needs and strive to carefully select workers who best suit those needs. I could not agree with him more.
Unfortunately, we have allowed the issue to become so complex that solutions are difficult to implement. Part of the answer may lie in a paper presented jointly by the General Workers’ Union and the Malta Chamber. They addressed the issue of an ageing Maltese population, which in turn could help to address some of the labour market shortages employers are experiencing.
The GWU and the Malta Chamber are proposing that Malta should embrace flexible retirement and part-time working for older employees as part of a more comprehensive solution to help address labour challenges caused by increasing economic old-age dependency and a growing population.
We can choose to ignore the growing presence of non-EU workers in Malta. Worse still, we can make it sound as something positive. However, we would be simply kidding ourselves. Public sentiment needs to be understood and solutions can be found if we think creatively, as the proposal of the Malta Chamber and the GWU shows.