Minister lauds sustainable economic policies for record fall in Malta unemployment

The latest statistics confirm that the economic growth being generated in Malta was resulting in more people finding employment whilst retaining the lowest rate of youth unemployment in the European Union, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo has said.

“Economic growth is generating employment and there is a fairer distribution of income,” Bartolo said, in a joint press conference with Tourism Minister Edward Zammit Lewis.

Statistics released today by the National Statistics Office show that unemployment in August fell to 3,261 from 4,914 in the same month last year.

Overall, decreases were recorded among all age groups.

Bartolo said that the government’s policies resulted in a 55% reduction of persons at risk of social exclusion, mostly propelled by reforms in the social benefits system which pushed more people to join the labour market.

On his part, Zammit Lewis praised the government’s “sustainable economic policy” whose benefits were now being reaped.

“Just to quote one example, the reduction in energy tariffs was key for investors and businesses to invest in employment,” Zammit Lewis.

The minister took the opportunity to take a dig at Opposition leader Simon Busuttil, “who had predicted bailout for the country and record rate of unemployment”.

Measures such as free childcare centres and in work benefits encouraged more people, especially women, to join the workforce.

Bartolo explained that the “most positive part” of the statistics was the increase in people who joined the workforce, which also included the unregistered unemployed.

The education minister also expressed his wish to strengthen after school clubs such as Klabb 3-16, which allows students to stay after school hours while their parents are still at work.

“This service shouldn’t be just about ‘a homework club’ or waiting time until they are picked up by their parents but it should give something more,” he said.

 When compared to August last year, registrants for work decreased irrespective of how long they had been registering, but the largest decrease was recorded among persons who had been registering for over one year.

The number of disabled persons who were registering for work also decreased by 40, reaching 362.

It was mostly men who made up the number of disabled registrants, accounting for 77.3%.
The largest share of males on the unemployment register sought occupations as clerical support workers, making up 17.7% of the register. The same goes for their female counterparts, who made up 32.6%.

The registered unemployment rate in March 2016 stood at 2.2% of the labour supply – excluding part-time employment – and varied from 2.6% among men to 1.6% among women.