Last March the number of people registering for employment reached a new historical minimum, as there were only 1,008 people on the Jobsplus register.
This means a decrease of 1,379 persons compared to the same month a year earlier. When Robert Abela became Prime Minister, in January 2020, those registering for work had totalled 1,691. This means that despite an ongoing pandemic, under the leadership of Robert Abela the number of jobseekers decreased by 40%.
This was in spite of forecasts made when the pandemic broke out that there would be more than 50,000 unemployed. In reality, the most unemployment rose was in May 2020 when the number of people registering had risen to 4,409. By contrast almost 8,000 were jobless at the height of the economic crisis of 2008.
From June 2020 onwards every day 5 unemployed persons found employment. This was the fastest drop in unemployment in history. For instance, for the rise in unemployment that had occurred after the recession of 2008 to be reversed it had taken 72 months, or five times longer than the present drop.
The success of Robert Abela’s economic leadership emerges from the fact that never in our history has unemployment been so low. This even though in past decades our country had a much smaller population. For example, Lawrence Gonzi’s administration had left office with 7,350 people on the register, or almost seven and a half times more. But even if one goes back to Mintoff’s time, unemployment was still almost three times that present.
To understand how successful Robert Abela’s Government has been in tackling unemployment, it is enough to look at three aspects of this social problem.
The number of under-30s looking for a job in March 2022 was only 276. In March 2013 it was 2,013 or seven times more.
Gozitans registering for work today amount to just 115, versus 742 nine years ago.
Those who had been unemployed for more than a year in March 2013 were nearly 2,800. Today there are only 279, or ten times fewer persons in this situation.
Furthermore despite the already huge decline in unemployment, most economic forecasters are now predicting that in the coming months there will be further drops and the achievement of even more impressive records.
