Working in the shadows: population figures contradict claims of foreign exodus

Employers lament labour shortages caused by an exodus of foreigners because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but official figures released now appear to contradict these claims.

According to the National Statistics Office Malta’s population at the end of 2020 stood at 516,100, of which 103,718 were foreign residents.

The share of foreign residents stood at 20%, the same as 2019. Between 2018 and 2019, the share of foreign residents had increased by three points and had been increasingly yearly until then.

The figures show that there was no exodus of foreigners in 2020 but the pandemic did curb the exponential increase of previous years.

Finance Minister Clyde Caruana, who is also responsible for the labour market, believes the contradiction between the NSO population figures and the claimed exodus of foreign labour is down to people who were employed in the shadow economy.

“Foreigners did leave but most of those who left were working in the shadow economy and so there were no official records of them. This became apparent when we started paying the COVID wage supplement and employers who had foreigners on their books who did not have a work permit had to let them go because they could not apply for the assistance,” Caruana told MaltaToday.

He estimates that around 10,000 foreigners who worked in the shadow economy left because of the pandemic.

Separate statistics made available by JobsPlus, the national employment agency, show that by the end of 2020, employed foreign nationals amounted to 70,402. Workers from EU member states made up 44% of total foreign employment in Malta while non-EU nationals accounted for 56%.

The rest of the NSO population statistics show that St Paul’s Bay remained the most populous locality despite a decline in the number of foreigners living there.

The seaside locality had a population of 31,789 by end December 2020, a decline of 415 from the previous year. An increase of 155 in Maltese residents was offset by decline of 570 in St Paul’s Bay’s foreign residents.

In 2020, foreigners made up 52% of the population in St Paul’s Bay, a percentage point drop over 2019.

The NSO statistics show that Birkirkara retained the title of the second largest locality with a population of 25,790. But unlike St Paul’s Bay, foreigners only made up 17% of the population in Birkirkara.

Sliema retained third place with a population of 24,412. Foreigners accounted for 43% of all residents.