The Labour Force Survey covering the third quarter of 2021 confirms that despite the pandemic there is currently the highest amount ever of people working in our country. Almost 269,000 people were in employment during July to September 2021. This is 9,321 more jobs than the same period a year earlier.
The employment record achieved under the administration led by Robert Abela is far better than those obtained by previous Prime Ministers.
For example, Lawrence Gonzi’s employment record was in the third quarter of 2012 when there were about 176,000 people in work. This is almost a hundred thousand people less than the current record achieved in the middle of a pandemic.
The number of people working in the third quarter of 2021 was almost double the employment record achieved under the premiership of Eddie Fenech Adami.
Under Robert Abela’s administration, at a time when many had forecasts there would be more than fifty thousand unemployed due to COVID-19, there are instead almost 8,000 more people in work than in the last quarter of 2019, before the change in the leadership of the Labour Party.
Every day Robert Abela served as Prime Minister, there has been an increase of 12 people in employment.
Our country’s employment rate has now reached a record high, at more than 75%. This means that four out of five working-age people are working. This when under a Conservative administration there were barely three out of five people of working age who were in employment.
Every day Robert Abela served as Prime Minister, there has been an increase of 12 people in employment.
While under the Conservatives our country had an employment rate five percentage points lower than the European average, under Robert Abela’s leadership the employment rate in Malta is five percentage points higher than the European average.
From being a country where the employment rate among women was below the European average, we now have a much higher rate. This at a time of pandemic that was supposed to affect mostly sectors that employ many women.
The Labour Force Survey also indicates that in the third quarter of 2021 wages rose by 4%, at a time of inflation running below 2%. In contrast in the last year under a Conservative administration the average wage had risen by less than 2%, at a time when inflation was 2.4%.
The average wage in September 2021 was €19,620, when in March 2013 it was €15,923. Which means that there has been an improvement of €3,697, or 23% since the change in Government in 2013.
