Employment minister urges ETC, education sectors to address skills gap

Addressing a skills gap in Malta would encourage economic growth, said education and employment minister Evarist Bartolo.

Bartolo addressed the Employment and Training Corporation Executive General Meeting, wherein a number of updates to the corporation’s image and ethos were announced.

Bartolo said that the silent revolution currently occurring in the job market signals the country's unique capabilities as so many other countries had found these changes almost impossible.

He added that the changes aimed to bring better quality of life and that the government also aimed to continue reducing exclusion for minorities in the employment world.

"The biggest possible obstacle is the skills gap we have in some sectors," Bartolo said, adding that the necessary skills were always changing.

"If we don't boost these skills, economic growth is shackled," he said. This often led to less growth for companies, who resort to employing foreigners or opening operations up elsewhere. 

He further urged more work to link educational sectors with job markets, to ensure that local skills are developed accordingly.

"We should also simplify the process of bringing over more talent to the country," he said, pointing out that screening services for visa applications should be hastened. 

ETC chairman Clyde Caruana said that the ETC would be undergoing a total revamp and rebranding process to reflect its commitment to appeal to more people. 

Caruana explained that the changes would take place next year, which include a change in logo. The corporation's name will also be changed to 'Jobs Plus', to reflect the company's focus on providing employment opportunities and further training and help professionals move from one job to another. 

Caruana also explained that the corporation's website would also be revamped, offering applicants more information about the status of their applications and employers more information on applicants.

Caruana also explained that ETC wanted to look beyond increasing wealth and on to improving the country's quality of life. 

"I believe we can reduce unemployment to below 4,000 people," he said.

"ETC believes that we can interact with the private sector to do so," he said, adding that ETC planned to divert those registered as unemployed for over a year to the private sector and to reduce the amount of time people spent between jobs.

CEO Philip Rizzo spoke about the importance of reducing bureaucracy and of focusing on team-building exercises, adding that the revamp followed the corporation's 25th anniversary.