Maltese companies most likely in EU to import workers from outside the bloc

Maltese companies are the most likely in the European Union to resort to labour imported from outside the bloc to address skill shortages, a Eurobarometer survey reveals.

The information is derived from a survey targeting SMEs in all EU member states, including 253 in Malta carried out in October.

The survey asked companies whether they have “tried to hire foreign talent to solve their company’s skill shortage problems”.

While only 16% of companies in all EU 27 member states said that they have tried to employ non-EU workers to address these shortages, the percentage among Maltese companies surveyed increased to 32%. Malta was the only country where more than 30% of companies had tried to employ third-country nationals, followed by the Netherlands (25%), Poland (22%), and Italy (21%).

Moreover, while 14% of companies in the entire European Union tried to employ workers from other EU member states, the percentage rises to a staggering 37% among Maltese companies. Demand for EU labour was only higher in Luxembourg (49%) and Austria (40%). However, the survey showed that 35% of Maltese companies still did not find adequate candidates when trying to employ people from other EU member states.

The survey also shows that Maltese companies were the third most likely in the EU to say they found it very difficult to find staff with the right skills.

In fact, 49% of Maltese companies said so compared to 57% of companies in Greece and 50% of companies in Bulgaria. The least likely to report skills shortages were the Finns (21%), the Swedes (20%), and the Estonians (20%).

But despite reporting difficulties in addressing skill shortages, Maltese companies tend to find staff more quickly than in most other countries. In fact, 21% of Maltese companies, compared to 17% in the entire EU, report finding staff with the right skills in less than a month. The percentage who reports taking three months or more to find the right staff is also lower in Malta; 44% compared to 49% in the whole EU.

Still, Maltese businesses are more likely to report job vacancies in their companies. While 44% of EU companies report having no need for further staff, the percentage drops to just 26% in Malta.

A previous survey by the same agency had already shown that a quarter of Maltese businesses employ workers from outside the EU. The findings placed Maltese companies as the third most likely in the EU to hire non-EU workers. Specifically, 16% of Maltese companies exclusively employ non-EU workers in person, while 3% rely solely on remote workers from outside the EU. Additionally, 6% of Maltese SMEs hire both in-person and online non-EU workers.