[WATCH] ‘Create careers not jobs,’ Muscat tells employers

‘Create careers not jobs,’ Muscat tells employers • Video by Ray Attard

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat today urged employers to shift their focus from creating jobs to careers during a debate on the future of the labour market.

"We need to start looking at human development rather than the functional aspect of employment," Muscat said speaking at the Malta Employers Association conference about the future of the labour market held on occasion of the association’s 50th anniversary.

Muscat also noted that he disagreed with opposition leader Simon Busuttil's interpretation of data, particularly with respect to the public sector and added that he preferred to look forward.

In his speech, Busuttil pointed out that although the government had embarked on various positive measures to improve female employment among others, much still needed to be done to improve employment rates.

"We need to perform better to reach and exceed the EU employment rates," he said, adding that in Malta the increase had been of 61.7% to 62.2% since last year.

He added that there was a disproportionate number of people working in the public sector, which has reversed previous trends.

"High public sector employment comes with consequences," he said, explaining that the pool of workers for jobs in the private sector had been reduced significantly. and that it could also have financial consequences.

"The public sector wage has increased going from 600 million in 2012 to 800 million next year," he said.

Muscat said that he had faith in a positive future for the employment sector and countered that the country's economic growth was attributable to the private sector, with eight of every ten jobs being created in the private sector.

Discussing budgetary measures for 2016, Muscat said that although measures had already pushed female participation and persons with disability, more would be done to further push these groups into employment.

"Although there are reservations around the disability quota, I firmly believe it is the way forward," he said, responding to the discussions made earlier in thconference.

He further added that the government was also determined to fight exploitation of refugees in the labour market

He further urged the government and private sector to work closer together to improve the country's economy.

"One of the ways the private sector can help is to assist in the prootion of Malta as a clean and beautiful country," he said, adding that the country had shown it could host important events like the Valletta summit without any hiccups.

Busuttil also added that more emphasis needed to be placed on different and newly developing economic niches.

Looking forward to the  publication of the opposition's working document "An Economy for the people", dealing with the future of the economy, Busuttil said that the document would be open to discussions and consultations.

Quoting an EU commission report, Busuttil also said that the early school leaving rate was still very high compared to other EU member states. He added that Malta needed to look into the situation and put more measures in place to redce this gap, a view that was echoed by director general for employment in the European Commission Aurelio Cecilio in his speech.

During the panel discussion, panel members Arthur Muscat (MEA president), Doris Sammut Bonnici (Green skip services ltd, joint managing director), Rhoda Garland (KNPD executive director), Josef Vella (UHM secretary general) and Josef Bugeja (GWU secretary general), touched upon various subjects including mobility in work opportunities, enforcing disability quotas teleworking possibilities and its restrictions as well as flexible hours and the introduction of a 40-hour week in Northern countries.

Ruth Farrugia also spoke about the improvement in female participation on the workforce and she also spoke about the need to keep artisanal skills alive among young people and make jobs like carpentry and other skills more attractive to them.

Vella said that the road forward was for collaboration between employers and unions rather than being confrontational