The plan was presented to the Malta Council for Social and Economic Development and the Council for Sustainable Development prior to the public consultation. It includes some 81 initiatives spread over five sectors: Direct job creation initiatives; new employment programmes and the development of existing ones; plans for new and revised programmes; revisions of administration and regulation and analysis and evaluation.

There are three measures contemplated in the direct job creation category. Firstly, a privileged rate of 15 per cent income tax on part-time employment for the second person entering employment within a family. Up to now, a couple is taxed on the gross revenue of the family, irrespective of the wage received for the part-time work. The second measure promotes the participation of women in the workforce even more directly. In fact, women re-entering the workforce after an absence of five years or more will be given a year-long tax holiday. The third initiative in this category will give financial assistance for child care services to working parents.

Labour MEP Joseph Muscat, who was at the public hearing, praised the ministry for the wide way in which the document had been discussed: “This is the way we need to start doing things in this country.” Mr Muscat qualified that he was not attending the meeting in his official capacity. He said that although he needed time to comment on the content of the plan, the thrust behind the document was positive.

Mr Muscat pointed out that in line with the projected tax cuts, mostly aimed at women, government should start considering staggered taxation incentives. He said that in other countries, people doing part-time work over and above their full-time job are given five or seven year periods during which their part-time revenue is first taxed at low rates and then gradually raised to the ceiling rate appropriate to their total earning levels. In this way, he explained, people are not put off even considering extra part-time work because government would eat away most of their earnings in taxes. The measure has been proven to be successful, he said.

Regarding a comment the minister had passed earlier about government’s limitations regarding the financial aid it could give for research and development, Mr Muscat said with a half smile that if the government refrained from spending money on posh property, then the funds could be addressed to these priorities.

On the whole the members of the public at the meeting had positive comments about the plan but the government’s projections for economic growth and unemployment levels were deemed to be conservative by some. However, in agreement with Mr Muscat, Minister Galea explained that the government had to be cautious in view of the volatile international scenario. Dr Galea said that while the EU targets for 2010 are considerably higher than those of Malta, the EU was currently undergoing a process through which it was extending its target dates or lowering its expectations.

The government will now discuss how it intends to finance the measures outlined in the plan in meetings to discuss the 2005 budget. Many of the 26 initiatives under the training programmes are funded by the EU social fund, yet the government still had to evaluate the effect of tax cuts in the job creation measures category on government revenue. However, Dr Galea pointed out, there is a wide consensus behind this plan and the government was committed towards coordinating its efforts to support it.

The plan relies entirely on the development of the private sector, Dr Galea emphasised. “Job creation will have to come entirely from the private sector. Up until now it was the government that contributed to the increase in employment rates, sometimes for good reasons and other times for bad reasons, he said. “That has to change... already over the past ten years the government has reduced its share in the employment market from 42 per cent to 34 per cent.”