Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Education Minister Louis Galea yesterday unveiled a draft National Action Plan for Employment. The draft, the result of consultations and research over the past months, is now open for consultation until 24 September and will be finalised for inclusion in next year’s budget.
The Action Plan will also form an important building block in the forthcoming five-year National Development Plan , Dr Gonzi said.
Thirty of the 55 new measures will be 75 per cent financed by EU funds, from the European Social Fund and the Regional Development Fund.
The draft states it is based on the EU’s Lisbon Strategy for Growth but a table in the document shows that, at best, the Maltese targets will all fall short of the EU’s Lisbon targets for 2010. Thus the plan speaks of raising the overall employment rate from the 2003 figure of 53.7 per cent by three per cent to 56.7 per cent, while the EU target is an employment figure of 70 per cent.
The Maltese plan speaks of raising the female employment rate by 7 per cent from the 2003 figure of 33.7 per cent to 40.7 per cent by 2010, but this is still a long way from the EU’s 2010 target of 60 per cent.
The Maltese plan also speaks of increasing the formal provision of childcare, at present unavailable, to 15 per cent by 2010 while the EU target is 3 per cent.
The Maltese plan also speaks of raising the older workers’ employment rate by 2.4 per cent, raising the average exit age from employment by two years to 59.7 years, increase the number of 2 year olds with upper secondary qualifications by 17.5 per cent to 65 per cent, bring about a cut of 13.5 per cent in early school leavers rate and increase by 3.8 per cent in the number of adults in lifelong learning.
Among the strategies to raise the national employment rate, the plan speaks of extending the 15% part-time work tax rate to spouses; offering a one year tax holiday to over 40 women returners after a minimum five year absence from work; and introduce childcare regulations and a fee subsidy scheme.
The plan has three principal objectives:
To create the environment where all those who can work actually find work in a competitive economy;
To bring about an improvement in the quality of work and its productivity; and
To promote social cohesion and inclusion
The plan is articulated in seven main strategies:
To improve the levels of education and certification
To raise the national employment rate
To enhance the business environment
To increase productivity in the public sector
To modernise the public employment service, and
To improve the labour market governance.
That part of the proposed strategy regarding the ETC services says that as from October, young jobseekers, on registering for employment, will have their work preferences noted. They will then be required to attend a new one-day jobsearch training seminar within a fortnight of registration. Approximately 50 youths will be expected to attend these seminars every week. The seminars will be held for groups of 20on a weekly basis.
Those still registering after a lapse of three months will be appointed an Employment Advisor, who will take an in-depth profile of them and will refer them to Occupational Guidance in a new unit to be set up within ETC. In the meantime, they will be referred to such job vacancies as may arise.
On the lapse of the fourth month, youth registrants will be referred to a four week course consisting of two weeks on work motivation and two weeks of Jobclub, that is more intensive training in jobseach and preparation for work. Personal Action Plans will be drawn up following the four week course for clients identified as needing further assistance.
If at any point in this preventive process, the young jobseekers fail to comply, they will be appointed a Personal Advisor for more comprehensive assistance. Each Personal Advisor will have a caseload of not more than 10 clients.
By the second half of the fifth month of registration, jobseekers will be placed on an active measure, namely short competence-based courses on the Job Experience Scheme, which involves a 13-week work placement.
A similar scheme will be created for adult jobseekers.
Replying to questions, Dr Gonzi said the main problem the government is facing regards the way invalidity pension is being given out. There are, of course, he said, genuine cases, but there are many opportunities for abuse.