Chamber members, responding to a Vacancies Survey carried out in the past weeks, have indicated that they will be recruiting close to 3,000 employees to fill vacancies which are expected to develop over the next five years. Almost 60% of these vacancies are expected to be of a relatively lower-skill or education level and a correlation between skill level and pay is evident, yet notable outliers exist.
This information was presented during a well-attended consultation session for members on the subject of employment of third Country Nationals organised by the Malta Chamber on Tuesday.
The survey findings further highlight the fact that Malta simply cannot produce the human resources demanded by an economy experiencing such rapid growth, no matter what is done in the short-term.
“Therefore, the only real short-term solution is for employers to resort to recruitment of foreigners, especially third-country nationals” said Andre Fenech, Head of Policy when presenting the Survey findings.
Focusing on the challenges of such recruitment issues, Vice President Mr Andrew Mamo said that due to the situation of virtually full employment, Chamber members are having to resort to recruiting personnel from outside the European Union, in order to meet their human resources requirements.
Mamo said that these work permit processes are, by their nature, quite complex because of a number of checks that have to be undertaken.
The Vice President also noted how the Chamber is looking at different ways in which to address the skills and human resources shortages which the economy is facing such as by supporting initiatives like The Skilled Migrant NGO and their Migrant Skills Register Pilot Project.
In her address, Parliamentary Secretary Julia Farrugia Portelli, said that a number of the Chamber’s proposals in its pre-budget document on the subject were being actively considered for implementation by her office.
The event was also addressed by Ryan Spagnol, Senior Manager, Expatriates Unit, Mario Xuereb, Head of Employment Services, Jobsplus and Mario Haber, Immigration Section, Police Department. These officials explained their respective entities’ role in the permitting process for the employment of third country nationals and replied to a number of questions and suggestions from the audience intended to reduce as much as possible the complexity of this licensing system and the resulting inconvenience and burden on the business that choose to resort to recruit third country nations to meet their human resources requirements.