Labour deputy leader says ‘Gonzi is not working’

A few hours after the Nationalist Party started erecting its 'Labour won't work' billboards, the Opposition's deputy leader Anglu Farrugia retorted, "Gonzi is not working."

Reacting to finance minister Tonio Fenech's challenge to explain Labour's policies on employment, Farrugia said "Tonio Feench has not done anything, we will show how it should be done."

He added that a new Labour government will cut wastage, and offer a guarantee of education, training and employment to all young people.

Farrugia explained that 34% of students aged 16 do not continue their studies further and said that this situation needs to be tackled.

He also said that the "government is not combining forces with the private sector to create more jobs."

Asked whether governmnet's claims that Malta has one of the lowest rates of unemployment in Europe, Farrugia said that in reality Malta fares worse then Spain when it come to the percentage of the population participating in the labour market.

Quoting National Statistics Office figures Farrugia said "the statistics based on the ETC data uncover the deceit of GonziPN claims that 20,000 new jobs have been created in the last four years." He explained that the statistics show that between 2008 and 2011 9,922 new jobs were created, including part-time jobs which make up two-thirds of the global figure.

The PL deputy leader noted that in 2008-2011 period, 3,276 full-time jobs and 6,646 part-time jobs were created. Farrugia added that up to 55% of the persons who took up a part-time job, this was their only job.
"These figures clearly show that in reality the amount of unemployed persons who found a job between 2008 and 2011 is of 6,904. This is a far cry from the 20,000 jobs claimed by GonziPN."

He also lambasted government for employing persons in the public sector on precarious conditions. Farrugia said "all contracts in breach of the law will not be honoured by a new government. We will ensure that the working class in protected."

The Labour deputy leader added that the "working class has been humiliated by the current administration who is an accomplice in creating precarious jobs."