That women’s income from employment compared to men’s is among the lowest in Europe, and that the divergence between the two has continued to widen in recent years, is bad news.
Since the economy has maintained momentum while not enough workers are being found to take up job vacancies, one would have expected the average income of both female and male employees to increase, with women’s income pulling closer to that of men.
But no. We need to examine closely the reasons that account for these results which sound counter-intuitive.Probably one problem is that the Maltese labour market has been absorbing so many foreign workers, both highly and badly paid, that it is difficult to predict in which way the balance between male and female pay will evolve.
Still for me one conclusion seems clear from what has been published: precarious jobs for women in the labour market are still on the rise.
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Traffic
Months if not years have elapsed, and yet on the problems being created by road traffic, we still await some forward movement. It would be too much to expect progress, but at least a beginning is needed by which some concrete proposals are made about how we could control the pressure of traffic in our roads, while creating methods by which the people of Malta and Gozo can travel right around the islands without generating tremendous jams.
Not so long ago, early in the morning, well before seven o’clock, I drove from B’Kara to Luqa. I thought that at such an early hour, driving would be easier. To the contrary. It was a longtime since I had experienced such a turgid traffic flow. The problems of past years are all still there.
Lights that take too long to change and at the bigger crossroads, lights that are just not synchronised well enough. Cars that blocked by the traffic crush, seek to avoid it by flouting the rules – stopping short or just driving through, thereby creating greater problems. There was a total absence of any proper surveillance of what was going on.
Oh yes, the problems of traffic management remain a priority area.
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In Portugal
I was in Lisbon last week with a delegation from the European Parliament’s economic and financial committee. We held meetings with representatives of the government, the national parliament and civil society in the economic and social fields. We discussed the changes that Portugal has undergone since it exited the “rescue” programme imposed on it by the eurozone in order to overcome the threat of financial meltdown resulting from the 2008 crisis.
Post the last general elections, there was a change of administration. The minority government is now led by the social democrats and operates with the “outside” backing of other left wing parties. In a short time, it has successfully changed direction, from austerity to greater prospects of economic growth. During our meetings, queries that arose included: How was this turnaround effected and why? How have the different social strata fared, for the better and the worse? What’s the outlook for the future? Are current improved trends sustainable?