If it wasn’t for teleworking, the economy would have come to a complete standstill through COVID. This was my main message at the launch of this year’s National Productivity report where along with Prime Minister Robert Abela we discussed issues of productivity and competitiveness with our social partners.

I reaffirmed Government’s commitment to enact any legislation necessary in order to recalibrate the economy of the future to one that focuses on wellbeing as much as it does on wealth creation. I also reiterated the need to position technology-enabled and green jobs as a cornerstone for our post-COVID economic re-emergence.

The seminar was another testament to a pro-active Government. Malta is one of a number of European Union Member States that has taken up the European Council recommendation on the development of a national productivity board.

The 2019 report commissioned by the Malta Productivity Board has been listed as an example of “good practice” when it comes to the innovative indicators relating to Human Capital Volume and Human Capital Quality.

Especially in such challenging times, we as a Government valorise such independent economic advice, which seeks to note how Malta can use local, regional and global factors to its advantage

Recommendations emerging from this years’ report were based on three key areas: focusing more on the digital economy and innovation; enhancing labour productivity and human capital; recommendations on the environment based on the Green Deal Policy.

COVID-19 has shown that the digital revolution is radically changing our societies. Moreover, it is also playing a critical role in increasing our societies' crisis resilience. The will of our workers and our businesses to adapt, discuss and find solutions together saved the day.

Yet the will to adapt is not enough. To adapt, one needs to have the necessary tools to do so too. We have seen the great benefits reaped by those in education and retail, who had already invested in a simple e-commerce platform as opposed to those who still had to catch up.

The public sector is a prime example of good planning in this field. Ample investment has continuously been done over the past years to digitise as many essential services as possible – when tested, the public service was ready to address the COVID challenge.

At the same time however, we have to recognize that technology is only a means to an end. Our priority should be to see that the wellbeing of our people comes first, and thus we should utilize digitalisation in order to ensure that our people are better off.

Productivity and competitiveness are the cradle for economic growth, however our fundamental role as social government, is to ensure that we have a fairer and more equitable distribution of wealth, and that alongside wealth we also generate wellbeing. This intertwines perfectly with the sustainable growth we are looking at when we promote the development of human capital, elevating in so doing, the skills of workforce, and the greening of the economy.

In order to achieve this, we must see that these recommendations are not only considered but implemented. The onus is now on each and every one of us, policymakers and policy implementers, to take on board these recommendations quickly.

 

Carmelo Abela is Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister responsible for social dialogue, industrial and employment relations, public broadcasting, Privitisation Unit, consultation and implementation of the electoral manifesto.