Labour MP calls PN unemployment statement ‘misleading’

Labour MP Etienne Grech has criticized the Nationalist Party for saying that the Government only managed to reduce unemployment because it hired 1900 public workers between March 2013 and March 2014.

“This could not be a more misleading statement," Grech said. "National statistics show that out of all the people who found employment between February 2013 and February 2014, 3,338 found a job within the private sector and only 1,785 within the public sector.”

“680 out of those 1,785 public sector jobs are only registered as such because the Government took over Arriva. Many of the remaining 1,105 employees are doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, radiographers, teachers, LSAs and accountants.”  

“On the other hand, unemployment increased by 10.6% in the final 16 months of the previous Nationalist government,” Grech added. “In its final year in government, they employed 3,800 new people within its public sector.”

“519 of them were employed between January and March 2013 when the government was supposed to be a caretaker.”