Providing employment opportunities for persons with disabilities

The right to work is a basic principle of human rights. It is the concept that people have a human right to work, to engage in productive employment and to continue to do so. There is no exclusivity on this right and it carries no lesser meaning to persons with disabilities.

Providing opportunities of recruitment and career advancement for persons with disabilities is not a charitable deed. It is a fundamental human right that ensures personal dignity, social justice and economic prosperity. We have a duty to provide the necessary training and work experience to all those actively seeking to enter the job market.

Recently, the Government launched a Sheltered Employment Training project which will address the problem that persons with disabilities face in seeking employment in the competitive open labour market.

According to the 2011 census, there are over 30,000 with some form of disability. Over 20,000 of these are at an employable age but fewer than 2,000 of these actually have a job. Admittedly, not all persons with some form of impairment have the right qualifications and work experience to compete for the jobs on offer, but there are far more than 10 percent that can successfully satisfy the requirements for a multitude of jobs.

The Employment and Training Corporation and Inspire have worked together to set up this Sheltered Employment project. This project will enable 150 persons with disabilities to acquire the required skills that will enable them to seek and find productive employment.

A number of employers have agreed to participate in this project. Some send their work over to the centre for work to be carried out on site. These include Chiswick House School, Playmobil, Elepac, Vee Gee Bee, Mompalao Trading, Multipackaging Limited, Printwell, Wasteserv, J & A Bonnici, Fildan Accessories, Thermoplastics, Methode, Uniplast and ASAG Plastics.

Other companies such as Berger Paints, Maypole, Vodafone, Siefert, Quintano Foods, ELC and De La Rue provide in-house training to these students. I wish to thank them all publicly, especially for setting an example that hopefully many other employers will follow. I would also like to thank Maltapost for providing transport and the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools for providing the required maintenance on this centre and for their involvement in the completion of the new one.

Juan Somavia, a former ILO Director-General, wrote: “Every day we are reminded that, for everybody, work is a defining feature of human existence. It is the means of sustaining life and of meeting basic needs. But it is also an activity through which individuals affirm their own identity, both to themselves and to those around them. It is crucial to individual choice, to the welfare of families and to the stability of societies.”

The Government believes in the right to work and in generating employment. We are committed to increase employment. In fact, the employment rate for persons between the ages of 20 and 64 has gone up from 59.9% in 2013 to 60.8% in the first quarter of this year.  Our aim is to encourage job creation and we will be investing 35 million euros of the EU 2014-2020 budget on work incentives, training and employment grants. We will ensure that young people are offered high quality vocational education, apprenticeships and traineeships to equip them with the right abilities and work ethics to join the workforce.