At present we are enduring more than our fair share of troubles on the home front.   Families face indiscriminate power cuts, exorbitant costs for students and women who work to get around on public transport and unbearable delays and third world discomfort in doing so, emotionally disturbing scenes at the hospital due to insufficient beds and a crises level atmosphere in wards, and traffic accidents on the increase besides poor roads and lack of traffic management and planning.

We can add other issues too, such as the cost of living, urban environment degradation, neglected management of public spaces such as parks and fountains, dirt in general, noise and vandalism and a disregard for the rule of law.

All these problems affect the morale of people and affect their pocket too.  Power cuts often mean loss of business as do traffic diversions.  The extra cost for public transport is coming out of the already hard up purses, leaving little to make the journey worthwhile.  Many nowadays also resort to using taxis to get to an event or occasion, having given up on the chance of finding a parking space. 

But for many families from working class backgrounds, it is precisely work which is uppermost in their minds.  Mothers who seek a job for their unemployed son, so that he will not fall into the wrong life-style or so that he can get out of it.  Young couples wishing to get married and improve their prospects or those who have lost their job due to redundancy or lack of training.  And on the other end of the spectrum are youths who are not fit to hold a job due to excessive partying and hangovers and others who, basically, couldn’t be bothered to give up their liberty for a job.

I believe that unemployment played a much greater factor in determining the outcome of the last election than otherwise seen.  Under the PN there were many conflicting statistics to do with employment or unemployment.  It could also be that perception played a part in it too but as jobs were becoming more and more filled by foreigners, especially in the tourism and construction industry, one could sense that a negative mood was prevailing amongst job seekers. 

In 2010 a report on employment rate figures published by the EU gave a poor result for Malta.

It said that the employment rate for persons aged 15-64 in the EU was lowest in Malta at just 54.9%.

The usual breakdown of men and women rates and also for those aged 55 – 64 was registered.

There are exceptions surrounding the figures in that at the time women were still lagging in their choice to work outside the home and the retirement age was 61.  But the core of the matter was that a lot of work needed to be done to get Malta to perform better on the employment front.

We can say that significant improvements were made and that by 2012 unemployment decreased among young persons, but increased among the older age groups.  In April of 2012, the registered unemployment rate stood at 4.3 per cent of the labour supply (excluding part-timers).

The to and fro of the un/employment figures continued unabated right up to the election of 2013 and Dr Gonzi stressed the future need for jobs would be a very important factor for the next government.

Up come Labour and a feeding frenzy of employment under any guise and form, with Soviet style handing out of jobs to the party loyalists bringing on the next great social change of the century.  A shift in policy for public sector jobs came like an undercurrent lifting the floaters and carrying them to safe ground, away from the ETC and the 3 ‘Bs’, far from the drudgery of registering and onto the reward, in the case of some, for loafing about under the PN, waiting for that much coveted job as a watchman or glorified driver.

There was a kind of madness in the way jobs were created and filled, leaving some gasping for a rationale of some sort and in despair for the justification of it all.  But it plugged a gap and over-rode other concerns still prevailing today. 

Apart from these jobs, it is clear that no Huawei style of investment is going to provide the answer.  Resting on the gaming and financial services industry is not enough and was not going to be enough for any government.  A serious plan was needed to continue to attract investment and industry in Malta and Gozo.  But Mr Muscat deems it better to over-staff the public sector and go for the re-distribution of national assets and sale of land and infrastructure leaving the already work-challenged to make a quick calculation and see what suits them best.

Today we have figures showing that 23% of school leavers are not in education or employment.  The last policy of the PN before 2013 was to devise a scheme to try and encourage young people to diversify their skills and train for a job.  It did not go down well as it would have entailed a commitment on the part of the applicant.  Maybe the youth of the time were right to be cynical – I think they are free to have that view if they want –but maybe they were also getting a strong whiff of the coming change in government and were given positive signs of a promised job.  But even for a labour government, finding a job for all those school leavers is not as entirely ”doable” - as Konrad Mizzi would say.  After scoffing from morning till night about Smart City, now they cannot get enough of it and use it like a magician’s hat to bring out all sorts of vanishing tricks.   Enemalta has been played like a piece of plasticine, shifting workers onto this book or the other.  Airmalta, try as the government might, simply cannot afford to take on more staff and the 850 companies registered by Mr Joe Sammut for Libyan clients has left a sink hole in the business sector. 

The fact is, too, that even on the issue of work, the country has changed as it did in other ways in a social and civil mentality.  That figure of 23% of school leavers means approximately 1,000 of the 4,000 students finishing fifth form each year are unemployed.  The country also has, according to figures published in November 2014, 7,000 single parents – mostly mothers – on benefits and around 1,200 others who are employed. 

Ask any retail or professional business and they will tell you how difficult it is to find good staff.  So many have been burnt by employing foreign workers who up and leave any time they choose or by investing in training for a young Maltese employee who simply cannot show up on Monday or Thursday due to the late night out before.  Some Gozitans actually do not go home at all after a night at the disco and then go straight to work from the party.  Needless to say, production cannot be all that high in that case.

Debates continue to rage about why Maltese people do not want to work in catering.  Some argue that it is because of the unsociable hours and other say it is because they feel it is not fair to compete with foreign speaking staff who are here for a period, to fill in the need for cash, and who will then return to their country at the first chance.   The “day off after the festa” holiday can sometimes leave an establishment without any staff and therefore it has to remain closed.  With foreign employees this is not a problem.  But it is fair to say that social and cultural traditions of a country should be taken in context and allowances made for long term workers, especially when paying tax.

At any rate, the country cannot rely entirely on tourism for its employment and no matter the training opportunities provided, there will always be a need for unskilled jobs to be provided.  That does not mean that education standards do not matter but it is a reality that all countries face and live with.  The sector has to be taken into account as much as the skilled and professional sectors.  No mother wants to see her son or daughter unhappy or facing a bleak future.  However, instilling the work ethic is essential if school leavers want to make something of their future and hoping for a job from Joey is not enough to guarantee a fit. 

If fact, work ethic is paramount.  Unfortunately, the wave of state jobsworks counter to this very need.  If the mind to get a job and work is missing, no amount of training and projects is going to draw them in.  The generosity of some parents, too, in providing a new flat or house for their children, ready for them to move into, does not help.  Neither does the hunting mentality, where being free to go hunting is above all else. 

It is clear though, that jobs continue to play an important part in Maltese politics.  I might say that to change the landscape of jobs for the general population is like changing the landscape of the ODZ to others.   Whoever can provide enough jobs and succeed in motivating the unemployed, also those of a more senior age, to make work a part of their life, will have broken the hidden noose around this country’s livelihood.