PN candidate for the European Parliament elections Stefano Mallia together with MZPN President Matthew Agius, stated during a press conference that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his Government continued to persist in ignoring the issue of unemployment especially that of unemployment among youths.

Stefano Mallia stated that young people out of a job and not receiving any training and have increased by more than 1,000 in Labour’s first year in Government. “This is a Government that seems unable to recognise that there is an issue with unemployment. This is a Government that seems to have lost the word ‘Haddiema’ from its vocabulary.”

Quoting Eurostat figures PN candidate said that over the past months, while the unemployment rate has registered increases across the board, this increase accelerated amongst our youngsters, and currently stands at 15.3% – an increase of 1.6% in just twelve months.

Stefano Mallia stressed that in economic terms – beyond the headline unemployment numbers – is the increase of 22% amongst those who have been on the register in excess of a year – an indication that unemployment is becoming a structural rather than a temporary issue.

He added that “during Joseph Muscat’s first year in Government the number of young people who are out of a job, are not receiving any form of education and are not in training, has increased from 4,800 to 5,800. Joseph Muscat had guaranteed that with Labour, young people would be assured either a job, training placements or education.”

Stefano Mallia stated that “Joseph Muscat’s job guarantee has so far only materialised for Labour’s inner circle of friends, while 1,000 more young people are now without training, education or employment.These 1,000 young people are surely not witnessing a better Malta.”

He said that “in tackling the issue of job creation and employment, it would be hard to leave the European Union aside. If we have a good look around the potential job opportunities awaiting students today, whether in financial services, gaming, digital gaming – most of them owe their very presence thanks to Malta’s European Union membership. The tourism sector has benefited strongly from Malta’s membership into the euro.”

Mallia pointed out that “on the other hand, the older established “social” professions – ranging from medicine to nursing, from teaching to law, have benefited greatly by the free movement opportunities which allow our youngsters to study, train and why not, work in the other EU states, gaining an invaluable life experience.”

“On the eve of another election, Muscat is now attempting to play the same game it pulled off a year ago.” Stefano Mallia said, “just before the general election Muscat used the youths and promised to provide a job or training to all youths over 16 years of age. One year later and not having delivered to one single youth the pre-election guarantee, now on the eve of another election, Muscat is once again trying to blind everyone with wide-ranging promises.”

Mallia stated that the “PN have continuously expressed our willingness to contribute towards a national policy to catalyse job creation, however Joseph Muscat has consistently refused to accept the Opposition’s offer to work together on such a sensitive sector, that affects the country’s economic and social well-being as a whole.”

Stefano Mallia once again appealed to Government “to come out with a strong plan that defines its strategic policies in terms of attracting investment and supporting job creation. Unfortunately, this has not materialised during Labour’s first twelve months – and as a result, although jobs are still being created, the pace has slowed down, resulting in increasing unemployment. ‘30% of all jobs created in the Maltese economy over the past year were created in the public sector. This goes against all trends set by the previous administration and such a trend is not healthy for our economy. More jobs for the boys in the public sector means more taxes to be able to pay unnecessary wages.”

Stefano Mallia concluded that if elected he will work in the European Parliament to bridge the gap between education and industry, promote legislation to facilitate startups and ensure that youth guarantee as legislated by the European parliament is fully and most importantly fairly rolled out in Malta

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