Figures released by Eurostat a few days ago showed that Malta’s unemployment rate for February held steady at 5.8 per cent for the third month in a row. The rate is well below the EU27 and eurozone averages of 6.7 and 7.1 per cent respectively, and down from the 6.7 per cent mark registered a year earlier.

This is a positive result for Malta – not only because the unemployment rate compares well with that of other EU member states, but also because the rate itself is considered to be close to what is termed as full employment.

For such a state of affairs to be achieved, it must be admitted that the policies adopted by the government in the past years have helped in no small way to create as many jobs as possible, in particular in growing sectors that are gradually replacing the more traditional ones.

The detractors often quote figures relating to the number of jobs that have been lost because factories have closed down, but in doing so they are seeing only one side of the story.

It is true that big companies have moved elsewhere because they found it more convenient and certainly less expensive to operate from other countries. This led to hundreds of people ending up without a job, and one does understand the trauma that each and every worker who ended up in such a situation had to go through.

But the other side of the coin is that most of these people have found a new job. Some have managed to remain in the sector they have worked in for many years, while a good number of others were re-trained in other skills to find employment in another sector of the economy. In a way, this is proof of the versatility of the Maltese worker, who can adapt himself or herself to different circumstances.

What has been an important factor in the employment equation is that the government has realised that the world is changing fast, and that Malta needed to keep abreast with the changes taking place. It has therefore taken all the measures necessary to create the right scenario for the developments that are taking place, and as such the country was not caught off guard.

With low-end manufacturing moving to countries where labour and costs are much cheaper, the government sought to promote other areas where Malta could excel in. In the past years it has worked hard to replace sectors in which Malta could no longer compete with others which the country could develop.

The pharmaceutical and IT sectors are just two areas which have been rapidly growing over the past years, and this was possible because the right foundations were laid. And, as these sectors grow further, Malta must continue to prepare for the number of jobs that will be created in the future.

Of course, we cannot rest on our laurels and the government must continuously be on the lookout for changes in trends so as to keep the country in line with what is happening. For example, Malta’s rate of female employment is still extremely low when compared to other European countries. This is mostly a result of our culture – although our mentality with regard to working women is changing, we still have a long way to go in this regard.

The government has come up with various initiatives to encourage more women to work – especially those who already have had work experience and would like to return to the world of work after having children.

These measures have had a positive effect but perhaps not enough as expected, as Malta is still way below the EU average of working women.