The Nationalist Party said this evening that the government employed 5,500 people in the civil service in the past two years.

3,000 people replaced public sectors who retired. On top of these, the government employed another 2,500 persons.

The PN said this contrasted with the trend it had adopted to reduce public sector workers.

Under the current administration, half of new jobs created by the private sector were going to foreigners who were willing to work here for low wages. Employment minister Evarist Bartolo was one of the official sources who confirmed this information, the party said. The PN said statistics also showed that Malta lacks productive jobs with good wages.

 The PN said that even if 1,500 retire from the public service every year, as stated recently by the Finance Minister, the government in the past two years engaged 2,500 more than the number who retired in the past two years.

“All this shows that there is something wrong in our labour market, especially our dependence on public sector employment, and on low salaries,” the PN said.

It also accused the government of using taxpayer money to attack the Opposition. The government, it said, had used the Department of Information to issue a press release on the reduction of unemployment and took the opportunity to attack the Opposition. This is unacceptable, the PN said.