These are the findings on which the National Action Plan on Poverty and Social Exclusion is based.
Yet, the picture is not entirely dark. Between 1994 and 2002, the disposable income of Maltese households increased by 50 per cent. The mean deprivation index stood at 0.23, much less than in any other country that joined the EU on 1 May.
Despite this, continuous changes in Maltese society, such as further individualisation and secularisation, as well as more frequent processes of family dissolution, are exposing certain strata of the population to the problems of poverty and social exclusion.
The economy
The Action Plan has to be considered within the broader outlines of the Maltese economic situation.
The government deficit stood at 6.2 per cent in 2002, increased to 9.7 per cent in 2003 and is set to drop, the plan says, to 5.4 per cent of the GDP this year.
The public gross debt was 61.7 per cent of the GDP in 2002, rose to 72 per cent of the GDP in 2003 and is further projected to increase to 72.4 per cent in 2005 but is then expected to fall to 70.4 per cent in 2007.
The uncertain international economic situation, geopolitical tensions and the volatility in international oil prices have affected the local economy by dampening economic activity and slowing down economic recovery.
After registering a real growth rate of 2.3 per cent in 2002, the Maltese economy contracted by 1.7 per cent in 2003. The current signs of an economic recovery depend on the international economic situation.
Labour market
The March 2004 employment rate of 54.5 per cent has remained stable since December 2003. It is substantially lower than the 64.4 per cent in the EU15 and the 62.9 per cent in the EU25.
Only 32.8 per cent of all women are in formal employment compared to the 56 per cent and 55.1 per cent in the EU15 and EU25 in 2003 respectively.
At the same time, the Maltese males are more hard-working than their European counterparts: the male employment rate in Malta is 76 per cent, higher than the 72.6 per cent in the EU15 and the 70.8 per cent in the EU25.
Women in Malta tend to be employed on a temporary basis or under fixed-term contracts more frequently than men.
Women in Malta are less often self-employed than men. The share of self-employed men is 250 per cent more than that of women.
The total unemployment rate stood at 8.2 per cent in 2003, an increase from 7.5 per cent in 2002, while it was 8.1 per cent in the EU15 and 9.1 in the EU25.
In the first quarter of this year, female unemployment averaged 8 per cent, a fall from the increasing trend of 9.6 per cent and 11.3 per cent registered in 2002 and 2003 respectively. The EU figures are EU15: 8.9 per cent and EU25: 10 per cent.
The male unemployment rate has been increasing from 6.5 per cent in 2002 to 6.8 per cent in 2003 (EU15: 7.4 per cent and EU25: 8.3 per cent) and 6.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2004.
The long-term unemployment rate stood at 3.3 and 3.5 per cent in 2002 and 2003 respectively, compared to the 3.1 per cent and the 3.9 per cent averages for 2002 in the EU15 and EU25 respectively and 3.3 and 4 per cent in 2003.
The Maltese labour force is relatively less educated/skilled than their EU counterparts, with some 69.5 per cent of the labour force having completed secondary or lower education. A further 28.1 per cent were at the post-secondary diploma or first-degree university level, while the remaining1.5 per cent of the labour force were at the post-tertiary level of education.
The indicator for early school-leavers in Malta is the highest among the EU25. However, significant falls are evident in both genders in 2002 to 2003. There were 53.2 per cent and 48.2 per cent early school-leavers, with a lower secondary education in 2002 (EU15: 18.5 per cent; EU25: 16.5 per cent).
During 2001 only 4.6 per cent were engaged in lifelong learning in Malta compared to EU15: 8.5 per cent and EU25: 8.0 per cent.
Demographic trends
The past decade has seen a continued low population growth of 0.6 per cent a year. There is an increased longevity in old age, resulting in an increased ageing population and a gradual decline in total fertility rate towards below replacement level.
As a result of changing social attitudes, the share of births out of wedlock rose from 2.2 per cent of all births in 1992 to 14.9 per cent in 2002.
As a result of increased individualisation, the further nuclearisation of the Maltese family and the increase in the number of marital breakdowns, the index of marital separations went up to 429.5 in 2002 from 100 in 1995.
Public welfare
Social security expenditure absorbed around one-sixth of GDP in 2000 to 2002, increasing from 17.9 per cent in 2000 to 18.5 per cent in 2002. As a result, given this wide-ranging system of social protection, poverty has not up to now been a major issue in Malta.
Income disparities and poverty
Income in Malta is distributed relatively evenly among the population: the last measure of this distribution in 2000 gave a coefficient of 30.4 per cent, only slightly different from the EU15 average of 29.0 per cent. It is estimated that, excluding all social transfers, the at-risk-of-poverty rate for Malta in 2000 was 30 per cent while the EU15 was 40 per cent in 2000.
Strategic approach, main objectives and key targets
The strategic approach of the Maltese Government in tackling poverty and social exclusion has as its main tenets:
Increasing the overall employment rate – namely female – and developing policies to make work pay while promoting more and better jobs for both women and men who are currently inactive or who are recipients of social benefits.
Combating illiteracy and improving the educational attainment of both young students as well as adults in advanced age.
Strengthening the welfare system so as to cater for the most needy and increasing social and affordable housing conducive to well-being.
The following are the key national priorities:
• Key priority 1: To increase employment and employability of vulnerable groups (including people who are unskilled, who have been inactive for a significant period of time or who are unable to work full-time, parents with dependent children and disabled people).
Targets: to reduce the early school leaver share of youth unemployment by 8.5 per cent to reach 10 per cent by 2010.
To increase the employment of people with disability to four-fifths of the national employment rate.
• Key priority 2: To increase the current low female employment rate
Target: to raise the female employment rate by 12 percentage points to 45 per cent by 2010.
• Key priority 3: To raise the current, low employment rate of people aged 55 years and over.
• Key priority 4: To make work pay
As identified in the Joint Assessment Paper on Employment Policy Priorities, it is government policy to make work as attractive as possible for men and women and in particular those from disadvantaged groups, while ensuring a minimum income for those unable to work. A strategic approach will be taken to this issue, whereby between 2006 and 2010, a number of reforms will be designed and introduced to ensure that the tax and benefit interaction have a favourable impact on those furthest from the labour market.
• Key priority 5: To ensure that literacy and numeracy skills are acquired by all members of society, reducing school absenteeism and promoting lifelong and life-wide opportunities at all levels and in a wide range of areas.
Targets: to decrease school absenteeism by 25 per cent (6.8 days/pupil) of the overall absence rate (9.07/pupil) registered in the scholastic year 2001-02 by the end of 2006;
to increase the share of 180-24 year olds with higher secondary education or above by 24 per cent to stand at 75 per cent of this cohort.
• Key priority 6: To ensure further inclusion and equal opportunities for students with disabilities or learning difficulties in primary and secondary schools.
• Key priority 7: To further support families in need and families at risk of social exclusion, particularly victims of domestic violence.
• Key priority 8: To promote public awareness of children’s rights and to provide services to protect and empower children/youth.
• Key priority 9: To ensure adequate and affordable housing to vulnerable groups by providing a wider range of services ands schemes.
• Key priority 10: To promote the access to services faced by disadvantaged groups (those with mental health problems, single mothers, victims of domestic violence, substance abusers, refugees and illegal immigrants).
• Key priority 11: Ensuring adequate and sustainable pensions.
Target: To ensure that the pension regime is reviewed by January 2006, so as to ensure adequate and sustainable pensions.
• Key priority 12: Regeneration of the Grand Harbour area so as to increase access to housing, employment and community care and social facilities.
Policy measures
In the light of the analysis undertaken in this plan, as well as in the Joint Inclusion Memorandum, and in view of the first three common objectives endorsed at Copenhagen, the most immediate policy priorities in relation to tackling poverty and social exclusion are:
a) To provide appropriate incentives to take up work for target groups such as women, disabled people, those coming out of rehabilitation or institutional care (notably those without adequate education, skills or employment), people engaged in the informal sector, etc., by putting in place re-training and up-skill courses as part of the employment routine in order to avoid risks of being low paid.
Key priorities:
• To increase the current low female employment rate;
to increase the employment and employability of vulnerable groups; and to increase the employment rate of persons aged 55 and over
b) To raise the provision of vocational education, training and lifelong learning and to increase the number of the respective students in order to improve employability and favour better jobs.
Key priorities:
• To ensure the sustainability and adequacy of the social protection system in view of future socio-demographic changes;
• To tackle illiteracy and educational under-achievement;
• To increase the housing supply and affordability for the most needy and
• To promote disadvantaged groups’ access to services
c) To reform the social protection system to ensure its sustainability, adequacy and comprehensiveness in order to stimulate work culture and minimise welfare dependence.
d) To reinforce the welfare of those who are dependent by setting up additional programmes to:
• Address and prevent childhood poverty;
• Assist further the disabled persons in their access to education, training, employment and housing in order to secure their welfare both in the short-term and long-term; and
• Provide support for the unemployed, the elderly, pensioners, persons with mental health problems and other groups
Key priorities:
• To enhance rights and safeguard equal opportunities in a scenario of both spouses participating in working life, through further support stemming from gender-based policies;
• To improve the preventive aspect of the current and future programmes ensuring the alleviation of risks of poverty and social; exclusion occurring from early/school age through an clear identification of children and youth at risk; and
• To set up educational activities, programmes and projects offering guidance on issues such as allocation of family responsibilities, prioritisatian of means among all family members.
e) To increase the housing supply and affordability for the most needy and target groups and, in particular, disabled persons, single parents, persons with mental health problems, victims of domestic violence and persons coming from rehabilitation or institutional care.
Key priorities:
• Further promote child welfare;
• Develop comprehensive legal framework for children’s services, and
• Focus attention on particular groups of children who are at the highest risk of poverty: children of single parents, parents who are in institutional care or prison, children suffering abuse at home, children in care or leaving care.
In conclusion, the Action Plan lists some examples of good practice:
• ACCESS Community Resource Centre
• Improving literacy among children
• ETC initiatives, and
• Cooperation agreement with the Richmond Foundation.