The first of May has a special place in the hearts of progressives and liberals. It is a celebration of the dignity of working people and their struggle to improve their living conditions.
Across Europe, recent years have not been good for workers. In 2016, those in employment in the euro area were one million less than in 2008. In Greece and Spain the numbers in employment today are, respectively, 16% and 11% less. A recent Eurostat news release states that in some Greek and Spanish regions the unemployment rate exceeds 30%. The statistics for regional youth unemployment are even more disheartening. In neighbouring Sicily, Eurostat reports a youth unemployment rate of 57% while, a bit further north, in Calabria 59% of youths are jobless.
The EU’s statistical agency tells us that the number of euro area citizens in a situation of severe material deprivation has risen from 18 million before the financial crisis to nearly 23 million today.
Against this backdrop, Malta’s economic success is little short of a miracle. While employment in the euro area is still below 2008 levels, in our islands last year there were 26% more people in employment. In 2014 this administration increased Malta’s EU2020 employment target from 63% to 70%, after achieving the previous administration’s target in just one year. Eurostat have informed us this new employment target has been achieved four years in advance. Some have pointed out that Malta still has a high employment rate gap between genders. However, if one looks at the employment rate of women aged below 40, in 2016 this stood at 63% in Malta as against 57% in the EU. Only five countries in the EU have a higher employment rate than us. From being a nation with low female participation, we are fast becoming a leader.
The free universal childcare service, introduced by this administration, has transformed the lives of thousands of mothers who, for the first time, have been given a real opportunity to engage in paid work while knowing their children are well cared for.
The transformation of our welfare system from a passive structure, with disincentives to work, into an active pathway to employment has also worked wonders. The introduction of tapering of benefits, combined with generous in-work benefits, has made work pay, while schemes such as the youth guarantee have helped reengage those previously disengaged from the labour market.
Today the number of those on the unemployment register is a third of the amount in March 2013. At about 2,600, it is the lowest since statistics started being collected in the 1960s. The number of youths registering for work is today 75% less than in March 2013, while jobseekers suffering from a disability are down 50%.
The surge in economic activity has led to an increase of 24,000 private sector jobs, more than the combined rise of the previous three legislatures. Eurostat data suggest that currently advertised job vacancies in Malta exceed the number of people registering for work. In the euro area, the median disposable income of those of working age has increased by just 1.1% since 2012; in Malta the rise has been 18%.
While in the euro area, the numbers in severe material deprivation have risen by nearly 28%, in Malta they have halved. While in 2013 there were 39,000 in this dreadful situation, last year there were 19,000. Malta today has half the severe material deprivation rate faced by the EU. In 2013 we had the same rate.
Thousands of persons that were facing severe hardship are now in a better financial position. The numbers dependent on social assistance, for instance, has fallen by a third.
Spending on minimum pensions is now 20% higher than in 2012 after the first rise in pensions in a generation. Spending on survivors’ pensions is now 33% higher than in 2012, after thousands of widows were, for the first time, given a full pension. Hospital waiting lists for operations have been slashed while the problem of out-of-stock medicines has been successfully tackled. Recurrent spending on health, elderly care and education in 2012 was €487 million. In 2016, a booming economy meant we could afford to spend €840 million, and still register the second highest surplus in public finances in the EU.
And there is more to come. The Budget for this year included the largest social spending package in recent times. The European Commission estimated its cost at 0.5% or €50 million. This includes radical measures such as a doubling of the rent subsidy, an expansion of the live-in carer subsidy, a substantial rise in carers’ allowances, and the gradual increase in disability allowances such that they equal the minimum wage.
And speaking of the minimum wage, on the eve of the first of May, for the first time since 1989 the social partners have agreed to a rise in the minimum wage to give a further boost to those on low incomes.
Strengthened by the achievements of the past four years, we can look forward to yet more progress to improve the prosperity of families throughout our country.
Evarist Bartolo is Minister of Education