PN warns new jobs being taken by eastern Europeans on low wages

The Nationalist Party has warned that several new jobs within the private sector are being taken up by Romanian and Bulgarian workers who are willing to work on low wages.

“Employment minister Evarist Bartolo has admitted that the employment of foreigners accounts for more than half of the total new jobs being created,” the PN said in a statement. “Since the government practically only employs Maltese nationals, this means that more than half of the new jobs being created within the private sector are being taken up by foreign workers.

“This indicates that our labour market is worryingly dependent on low wages and government employment.”

Recent Eurostat statistics show that Malta and the Czech Republic in July enjoyed the second lowest unemployment rate within the EU (5.1%), trailing behind Germany (4.7%).

The government hailed this data as proving that unemployment in Malta is at its lowest rate since Eurostat started conducting such data.

In a statement, it argued that unemployment declined due to a strong drop in youth unemployment – a “direct result of initiatives like the Youth Guarantee that had been heavily criticised by the Opposition”. 

However, the PN claimed that the decline in unemployment is due to an ever-bloating public sector.

“The government has employed no fewer than 5,500 people within the public service over the past two years – 3,000 to replace retirees and 2,500 new jobs.”