With all the flak being levelled at government on issues of exclusion and imposition of morals and the badly handled honoraria issue, it is sometimes easy to forget the positives of this administration.

Unemployment has been consistently low, lower than the EU average, with the last official figure being 6.1%. In a world where markets collapse, bubbles burst and factories close up before you can even say “hang on”, it is encouraging to see that Malta has retained the flexibility to shore up struggling businesses, allowing them to retain full, or close to full, employment capability.

One must also mention that over the years, Malta has absorbed a number of employees who were made redundant in the closure of major operations – the dockyards for example. The Employment and Training Corporation has done well, as Minister Dolores Cristina said in parliament, to identify the right openings for the right people who are seeking a job (read parliamentary report on page 9). The key, she said, is that the ETC treats its clients as individuals, as people.

Of course, challenges will always remain. One of the next shocks to the system will be the mass redundancies when Air Malta goes through its restructuring programme. The ETC will have its work cut out in trying to find replacement posts for these people, but the upside is that they are perhaps more versatile in nature than workers with other skills sets.

Libya will also be another problem. It is worth noting that the figures quoted in the parliamentary report refer to the year 2010. There is nothing underhanded in this, that is the way official figures are issued, one year behind (by every institution in the world), but what we are saying is that 2011 might be a different story.

Let us be clear, 2010 was not a rosy year by any stretch of the imagination. Inflation crept up, the utility bills were and still are massive and confidence was low. But yet, the authorities still managed to shave a few percentage points over 2009 figures.

As we have already said, this year will not be easy. Workers used to the salaries of Libya will be hard to integrate into the local workforce. Air Malta is set to shed some 600 jobs in addition to the ones already lost at its subsidiary Selmun Hotel and it would be a very big task to ensure that each and every redundant person finds a new job before the year is out.

All in all, the figures are very positive and encouraging. But in this modern world, the moment you think it is safe to relax is the moment you seal your own fate.