Malta’s female participation rate grows faster than EU’s

Just one year after joining the European Union in 2004, Malta had a female participation rate of just 34.5%. The rate grew to 47% in 2013 and jumped to 64% by 2018.

But in 2020, it finally surpassed the EU average when it reached 67%.

The female participation rate measures the percentage of women who are in paid employment. The gap between Malta and the EU continued to widen in the next three years as Malta’s female participation rate climbed to 73.6%, compared to the European average of 69.4%.

The recently published annual report of the national employment agency Jobsplus attributes this increase in female participation in the labour market to successful government policies, that come on the back of “a very successful market activation policy package” that includes an influx of female foreign workers who supported this growth.

One key factor contributing to the increased female participation rate was free childcare, introduced in 2014 for children aged from three months to three years of age, whose parents are either employed or in any form of education leading to a recognised qualification.

8,437 children were benefitting from the scheme in 2022, of which 4,029 were new applicants. The number has been increasing from over 5,300 in 2016 to 7,300 in 2019. After declining during the 2020 pandemic to 6,700, it bounced back to 7,500 in 2021.

Curiously, as female participation rates increased, part-time employment – an important role in supporting the transition of inactive females back into the workforce by allowing better work-life balance – has been in decline. This said, part-time work has seen its share in the employment market decline over the years and now stands at a lower rate than European averages.

While recognising the positive trend of more women joining the workforce, Jobsplus still sees   room for improvement, especially in relation to a lack of participation within specific age cohorts and the need measures to address the gender pay gap.

The report also refers to the sharp increase in non-Maltese working in Malta. Whereas the share of EU nationals remained stable at 13% of the gainfully occupied population, the share of non-EU nationals increased from 6% in 2017 to 18% in August 2022. This led to a reduction in the share of Maltese workers of the total workforce by 11 percentage points, dropping from 81% in 2017 to 70% in August 2022.

The increase has been most pronounced in the arts and entertainment sector where more than half of the workforce is non-Maltese. The sector includes remote gaming. Other sectors where more than half of the workforce is non-Maltese are the accommodation and hospitality, and the construction sectors.