At the end of March there were 37,717 foreign workers registered with JobsPlus, according to Education and Employment Minister Evarist Bartolo.

He was replying to a Parliamentary Question by PL MP Silvio Grixti.

The minister said 27,334 were EU citizens while 10,383 were third country nationals.

Bartolo said there were 1,295 foreign workers who were registered as living in Gozo. He pointed out, however, that this was not indicative of the number of foreigners who also work in Gozo. Bartolo said many big companies are registered at Malta addresses but have people working in Gozo as well.

The minister said that Jobsplus has an inspectorate to root out illegal workers. Whenever it enconters such cases, steps are taken to ensure that these workers are regularised. If this fails, the employers are taken to courts.

In reply to another PQ, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said Identity Malta was simplifying procedures to speed up the process to issue work permits for foreign workers, particularly in the catering and low-skilled work sectors.

A number of social partners have been urging the government to simplify the process to plug a number of gaps in the labour market.