Figures issued by Eurostat yesterday showed that  the Eurozone is finally recovering and that the jobless rate is the lowest that it has been in the past four years.

However, the overall rate still stood at 10.5 % at the end of December. Percentages are a dangerous thing, it is easy to quote a 1% improvement here and there, and it is just as easy to dismiss a 1% drop. But what does 10.5% of the Eurozone actually mean? The real figure is a staggering 16.9 million people.

Malta has fared well, we have the third best unemployment record in the Eurozone, trailing only Germany at 4.5%, the Czech Republic at 4.8% and Malta with 5.1%. Greece and Spain, on the other hand, are creaking under the ludicrously heavy burden of 24.6% and 21.4% respectively.

But what does 5.1% unemployment actually mean for Malta? Taking that Malta has a population of about 430,000, that figure works out to just shy of 5,000 people who do not have a job. The economy is improving and while the government was criticised for engaging more workers on the public payroll, it seems that the private sector has also been doing its bit in stimulating the job market.

While creating jobs is important, it is of utmost importance to ensure that job creation is sustainable. Piling more names onto the public payroll will help in the short-term, but long-term, as Malta experienced in the late 1980’s, it is a recipe for disaster.

Europe is also struggling with massively high youth unemployment in certain countries such as Greece and Spain, who in some regions, have registered percentages of up to 60%. Luckily, Malta does not seem to have that problem, and the government’s Youth Guarantee also seems to have stimulated matters, coupled with work experience programmes that are offered by private companies as well as colleges such as MCAST and others.

The Eurozone has also reported that people are spending more, and that is a good thing. The same holds true for Malta and there is no doubt, slashing the electricity bills has contributed heavily towards this trend. But at the same time, people here are angry about corruption, shady deals, too many mouths at the trough and the fact that wealth is not being distributed equally.

Another issue which has cropped up is the fact that people are angry that public money is being squandered on things such as an elaborate 20+ minute New Year speech by the Prime Minister which largely concentrated on telling us how good he and his government are and how grateful we should be that Malta is one of the best countries in Europe.

The people of Malta are indeed grateful, but the people of Malta also demand their rightful dues. This government started out its term with a massive 36,000 majority, shouting “Malta taghna lkoll”. It seems that Malta does not belong to all of us at all, but rather to the select few. Maltese citizens are happy that the country is doing well and that life has improved, but many still feel that they are being fed scraps from the master’s table while the plebs continue to forage to make a living as and where they can.