Malta has the 5th highest percentage of workers participating in the workforce when compared to the rest of the European Union, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said during a Labour Party press conference on Monday.
In giving a breakdown of how the economic situation got better over the last decade, the Minister said that Malta climbed the ranking having previously occupied the 16th place in 2013.
Prior to the Labour Party’s administration the country’s yearly economic growth never went above 2%, he said before adding that now the median is around 8% a year.
Caruana spoke of how the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio was over 70% in 2013, but now stands at 54% despite the economic issues brought about by the war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic.
In mentioning some of the reforms which helped achieve these results, Caruana said that it was under a Labour government that families were able to benefit from free childcare, better social benefits, and in-work benefits.
He said that from the €500 million guarantee which the Malta Development Bank did on several businesses, only €50,000 was lost “so it can be said that we also saved almost all businesses.”
The minister also said in comparison to previous year where it normally spent around €40 million, the government spent around €59 million in helping people with measures such as the increase in pensions, amongst others.
On his part, Parliamentary Secretary for Social Dialogue and PL Whip Andy Ellul presented a breakdown of the several reforms the government has implemented over the years.
From the introduction of the work-life balance directive which allowed for paid leave for new fathers and more parental leave, to new laws regulating digital platform workers, Ellul said that these are all measures which raise the standards for the employee.
The government also revealed that currently the government is engaging in a study about the wage regulation for specific sectors “such as cleaners and security personnel”. He said that these are all part of the efforts to create a reform which aligns and conforms with the ILO (International Labour Organisation).
Ellul also said spoke of how “just this morning”, the government had a meeting with social partners to discuss temporary work agencies and the outsourcing of workers to improve the working conditions of these workers and to stop abuses.
On the parliamentary system, he said that there are more resources in store to be allocated and that if need be the parliamentary hours will be revisited if it results that “they are outdated.”
On the Low Wage Commission, Ellul said that it is now recognised by law, thus meetings are not being done informally anymore.
He said that the commission is made up of a variety of representatives representing workers with some of them being nominated by the government. The goal of this commission is to discuss the minimum wage, he said.