Cost of living and poor quality of life driving foreigners away

Foreigners who come to the island eventually leave at an exit rate that is higher than usually observed in advanced economies, an economist said in a study on foreign workers in Malta.

Brian Micallef, a PhD candidate at Bristol University, found that Malta’s high cost of living, including housing, was the most commonly cited reason for why foreign individuals left Malta so quickly.

“The study was motivated by the rapid economic growth in Malta, which led to a strong demand for labour and an unprecedented inflow of foreign labour. The share of the foreign labour in the workforce has increased from less than 3% at the time of EU membership in 2004 to 23% in 2018,” Micallef told MaltaToday.

A 2019 Central Bank of Malta study suggests that around half of foreign nationals in Malta leave the country after only two years of stay. Micallef’s research attempted to find whether the conditions of the local housing market has contributed in any way to the high rate of out-migration of foreign workers in Malta.

The questionnaire and online survey designed by Micallef garnered 242 valid responses over a period of three months.

“High cost of living, including housing, was the most commonly cited reason [for leaving] as housing costs had increased disproportionately compared to the salaries in Malta. However, housing issues, albeit important were not the sole contributors and have to be seen within a wider context.

“The other most common motivations for leaving were related to concerns about future career prospects, poor quality of life, low wage employment and aspirations for a better future for the children in a new country,” Micallef said

The survey results revealed how migrants were disenchanted with Malta for various reasons and could not stomach the overdevelopment, the housing costs and other sources of discontent for what they thought they had come to Malta for: good weather and good work.

“For most, the migration project was never intended to end in permanent settlement in Malta. The reasons for coming to Malta made clear that most respondents considered their experience in Malta as an intermediate stage in their career,” Micallef said, adding that out of 242 respondents, half of them returned back home while the other half had moved on to other countries.

Micallef said that those who had migrated did not speak nostalgically about the country although they had been conflicted between the opportunities it offered in the form of “climate, beautiful beaches, bilingualism and a Mediterranean lifestyle” against frustrations related to rapid development, lack of career growth and difficulty securing work commensurate with their qualifications.

“The expressed frustration was multi-dimensional but mainly operated through three layers: physical, professional and emotional. The physical dimension referred mostly to excessive pollution, including noise and poor air quality, heavy traffic congestion, over-construction, the lack of green areas and open spaces and the absence of apparent concern for the environment,” Micallef said.

With regard to frustrations on the workplace, respondents expressed disappointment by the low professional standards in their respective industries, discrimination at work and low promotion opportunities. In some cases, this resulted in lower-paid jobs and dissatisfaction with their employment, which eventually hindered their integration.

“The emotional dimension included respondents that referred to the racist, hostile and the xenophobic attitudes of some locals, including on social media. For others, it was their frustration over the local small island mentality of the population, which results in narrow-mindedness or outright hostility to ideas or lifestyle choices brought about by outsiders.”

Still, housing costs remained the most common reason cited for leaving. Around 60% of respondents opined that they were paying overpriced rents and more than half of respondents had left sometime between 2017 and 2019 for that reason. Around three quarters of these same respondents claimed that their length of stay in Malta was actually shorter than originally planned.

“In terms of housing, it also seems that other factors play an important role. In addition to high rents, more than half of respondents complained about substandard quality of housing as well as the lack of facilities to keep a comfortable temperature inside. Another third reported a troubled relationship with the landlord,” Micallef said.

Top considerations for the choice of new destination after Malta included aspirations for a better quality of life, better career opportunities and higher income prospects. Micallef said that he didn’t exclude the possibility that some might return if better opportunities arise.