[WATCH] Labour pledge free childcare to push mothers into labour market
Labour leader claims €3.1 million proposal addresses shortcomings pointed out by credit rating agencies.
18 January 2013, 12:00am
Miriam Dalli
Miriam Dalli
1 min read
Labour leader Joseph Muscat with candidate Karmenu Vella and party's director of communications Kurt Farrugia.
Labour leader Joseph Muscat has announced a €3.1 million project to introduce free childcare for single and married parents on full-time employment, which he says will push more women into the labour market.
Muscat said a new Labour government will create a private-public partnership with childcare centres that will generate 500 new jobs in childcare over the next five years.
He also said the proposal, which will cost €3.1 million in the first year, will generate a clawback on new taxation revenues from the creation of new jobs and the entry of 2,500 women into the labour market over and above current projections, over the next five years.
"We will address shortcomings pointed out by Standard & Poor's, namely the low level of participation of women in the Maltese labour market," Muscat said, referring to Thursday's downgrade of the sovereign credit rating to BBB+.
Muscat said mothers will still benefit from tax reductions they currently enjoy to re-enter the labour market.
Muscat even claimed the outlay will eventually decrease. "It is a modest outlay considering the benefits there are. When €4 million was spent on the offices of Malta Enterprise, you can see how modest the spend is.
The free childcare will be for parents, single and married, who are in full-time employment for children under three. But the scheme will be eventually extended pro-rata for part-time workers.
Muscat has also pledged a 25% reduction in bureaucracy, in a review to be conducted by a specially appointed commissioner who will take stock of government administrative procedures.
Miriam Dalli joined MaltaToday.com.mt in 2010 becoming assistant editor f...
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@Carras1.......Labour leader Joseph Muscat has announced a €3.1 million project to introduce free childcare for single and married parents on full-time employment, which he says will push more women into the labour market.......THIS IS ONE OF THE PROPOSALS MADE BY UHM, WHICH THE PN HAD ALREADY DELCARED TO IMPLEMENT IN FULL IN THE ELECTORAL PROGRAMME.
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Affordable childcare centres are the key to increased married women participation in the work market. GonziPN's efforts in this regard have been so half-baked that they left no impact on the statistics. Good for Joseph to have now announced his policy on this matter, which was one that S&P has criticised.
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Dr Muscat you are making it so obvious that you are vying for a win in the coming election. It seems you are willing to promise anything that the voter wants to hear. I know and understand that this is pre-election gibberish but you and the PM cannot keep promising that both of you can deliver the world to everybody that will listen, because every time you make such promises that means more money from the TAXPAYER and you will also be inflating and adding more to our deficit. Why don't you and DR Gonzi figure out how to fix the immediate problems first before embarking on a wild safari of empty and costly promises. Just trying to correct the errors and correcting the harm that is being done to this country right now is enough to keep the PN and PL busy for the next five years. Why not concentrate on stopping the crime wave that is taking over our country, try and take out the corruption and injustice that exists in our Judicial System. Try to remedy the problem at the over populated prison system and do away with the corruption that exists within. Maybe try to find a way to lessen the need for patients to spend nights sleeping on a stretcher in the hallways of Mater Dei Hospital. Maybe find more dedicated and knowledgeable candidates to run for office and maybe rid the parliament off the corruption it finds it self in. Maybe find a way and try to lower the overbearing expensive utility bills which most cannot afford anymore. Maybe find ways to provide a better Public Transportation System. And last but not least try to balance the budget which is getting bigger by the day. Yes that is what both of you Leaders should be promising the citizens. We have enough problems as it is, please do not add anymore. Fix the problems we have now, fixing these problems should cover the whole five years ahead of us. This only my opinion of course, but I am sure many more would agree.
Rita Pizzuto •
Joseph Muscat hemm bzonn li jieqaf ftit mix-xoghol u l-proposti tieghu ghal meta, jekk il-Bambin irid ikollna bidla fil-gvern u jibda jmexxi Partit Laurista.
Mhux qed jaghti lill-Gonzi PN serhan, qatghalhom nifishom. Daqqa fuq ohra, u mhemmx mod kif jistghu jirpiljaw jekk mhux billi jippruvaw jikkupjaw il-proposti tal-mexxej Laburista imma b'xi forma gdida.
Dalwaqt jghidilna issa li din proposta ohra li diga' kellhom f'mohhom.
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It wld be interesting to learn how the figure of 25% was arrived at. And why 25% and not, say 50%? Or has 25 become the magic number?
