From what I can deduce from various quarters, the dust has not as yet settled within the PN grouping following the MEPs’ election.  The World Cup will ease some tensions in this turbulent period for the PN.  I trust the PN will not only go back to the drawing board, but throw out what smells bad in the cupboards. This is not an option. The PL, encouraged with yet another electoral massive success will continue to deal with the day-to-day issues while sailing to calmer waters as the EU economy is gradually recovering.  

The recently published report “Building Growth” prepared by the EU Commission is a clear indication that the EU is on the way to economic recovery.  Economic recovery began in mid-2013 and is expected to gain further strength and spread to all Member States by 2015.  This upturn brings the hope that the EU is moving out of the worst economic and financial crisis in its history and towards a more sustainable growth path that will generate jobs and improve standards of living. 

In April 2014, figures published by Eurostat showed that 25.471 million men and women in the EU28 were seeking employment. Compared with April 2013, unemployment fell by 1.167 million. Rightly so, an optimist can claim that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Notwithstanding this significant improvement, the EU is not yet out of the woods. 

While these positive figures show that the EU is getting back on its feet, inversely Malta was reported to have slipped another place in the unemployment scoreboard in April, from the sixth to the seventh place.  During the preceding years of deep economic recession, Malta held on tight to the fourth place in the EU unemployment scoreboard.  Undoubtedly, unemployment is an important indicator which surpasses most pointers.

Despite the EU report, Employment and Education Minister EvaristBartolo last Tuesday, during the debate on the ETC financial estimates in Parliament, claimed that the level of registered unemployment is on the decline, down to 7,100 from the estimated 8,000 mark.

Protecting and creating higher value-added productive employment in Malta is, and will remain, a challenge.  Attracting local and foreign direct investment is a multi-faceted task.  Many, at all levels, are quick in their assessment and conclude that by throwing money at this complex socio-economic issue, this will be addressed. Throwing money at problems of this sort will not water down hardships but serve only to fuel more inequalities and social injustices. There are no quick fixes. Only well-thought and designed national employment strategies will prove productive.  

Well-meaning but ill-advised politicians, unaware of the complexities, often put their foot in it without realising the impact that populist but short-sighted measures have on the economy and thus employment.  

A case in point is the promise for the eradication of precarious employment. This was and still is a promise that the present administration has failed to address effectively in its months in office. 

It is clear that Government does not have a clear idea of what precarious employment really is.  A close look at the call for tenders issued by Government clearly shows that there is a wide rift between what Government says and what it actually does. 

This is not solely a local issue.  Lately I came across a news item about the national minimum wage in the US.  McDonald's CEO Don Thompson recently suggested his company would support a bill, proposed by President Barack Obama, to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour from $7.25. In bold black letters the title read: “McDonald's CEO: We Will Support a Minimum Wage Hike”.  As the debate has long been on our national agenda, this caught my attention.  McDonald's might finally have figured out that paying its low-wage workers more would actually be a good thing for McDonald's. Recently, some of the McDonald’s workers stormed the company's Oak Brook, Illinois, headquarters demanding $15 an hour.  Coming to the end of the article an update statement from McDonald's said: “What Don Thompson said reflects our existing position on this important and evolving issue: an increase in the minimum wage would primarily affect McDonald's independent franchisees”. 

The statement continued: “any increases should be implemented over time so that the impact on small and medium business owners is manageable”.   It concluded:  “we believe that any increase needs to be considered in a broad context, one that considers, for example, the impact of the Affordable Care Act and its definition of ‘full time’ employment, as well as the treatment, from a tax perspective, of investments made by businesses owners”.

In industrial democracies, barriers between the political movers, economic leaders and social players will remain. It is only through meaningful social dialogue that issues can be addressed. The new socio-economic realities call for strengthened networks between all stakeholders, notwithstanding the barriers.

While many are quick to find fault with Church Authorities, the speeches delivered on Workers’ Day and on the last day of the same month by the senior learned Clergyman from our sister Island Mario Grech, are spot-on.  He stresses values which are modest, honest and may be used as a guiding light.  These speeches should help leaders and society understand realities better.An invitation to his Grace to the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development and/or the Parliamentary Social Affairs Committee would not be amiss.   

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