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Maltese workers amongst highest in EU suffering from work stress
Parliamentary secretary for the elderly and community care Mario Galea said government’s commitment to create jobs could help lower the level of depression in Malta, which is especially prevalent in young teenagers.
20 January 2011, 12:00am
Martina Said
Martina Said
1 min read
Galea said at the Impact assessment of mental health on employment for policy development conference that the country’s rate of depression amongst 13 and 14-year-olds stands at 21 per cent, which is seven percentage points higher than the average in Europe. Around 35,000 people suffer from depression.
“We are aware that unemployment is one of the primary sources of mental conditions, and it is precisely the policies declared by government, based on increasing jobs, that will increase the quality of life of sufferers,” Galea said.
Galea said that persons with mental conditions are still being excluded from the world of work due to a lack of knowledge and false perceptions on various mental conditions. “A new law on mental health will be a useful tool to continue to stave off the stigma and discrimination that surrounds mental health at the workplace,” Galea said.
Galea said that mental health is a financial burden on society, and is estimated to cost the country around €100 million a year. A study on 25 EU member states found that bipolar disorders cost countries €106 billion a year.
The research found that around 12,300 Maltese workers could be suffering from depression. It also revealed that Malta has the highest rate of depression, anxiety and stress amongst workers at 29.3%, when the EU average is 17.6 per cent.
“Such statistics should commit government, social partners and civil groups to give more importance to the prevention of mental health at work,” Galea said.
“Our aims for the improvement of mental health at work could be achieved through government investement and an audit process to reduce stress at work and create a better balance between work and social life and work and salary."
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What creates all this stress in the work places in Malta is evident. E.g. Why do many private companies like Lufthansa techniques, E-gaming companies, E- services, Banking, financial institutions, manufacturing companies like St. Microelectronics, etc. etc. operate from Malta ? The answer is very simple. CHEAP LABOUR!!!!! Employees are being paid a miserable sum of money for the work they do compared to their counterparts abroad. Employees are being used to the full and exploited in some cases with working conditions that are very poor and employees do not have any rights. Also the work environment is very competitive and does not promote quality living and a nice life. This is a form of modern slavery!!! So the government should stop boasting every time a new company or industry operates in Malta. The government is always stupidly boasting about the 1000s of new jobs that are being created. But these jobs offer miserable conditions at wages that are just slightly above the minimum wage for most employees. Working in these conditions creates obviously a lot of stress and frustration for most employees who day in day out go to the same boring job!
The situation is not much better for those working in the civil service. You find people who do a lot of work for a very miserable pay. Even the Teachers, Police force and the Army have miserable pays for the work they are doing!
In this modern era the trend is to use employees as much as possible when one needs them and dispose of them when they are no longer necessary. This is what happens in a greedy capitalistic society like ours which is always bragging about values, lifelong education, inclusion, etc.
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You will be more stressed when you learn that Spain is next for a bail-out out of our money.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20110120/tts-uk-spain-debt-ca02f96.html
Spain readying fresh bank funding plan - sources
