Malta's Europe 2020 employment target and the European Social Fund

Abstract

The economic crisis has had a drastic impact on employment levels across European Countries. The crisis severely hampered the ambitious goals set up by European Union in the Lisbon strategy to transform it into the most dynamic knowledge based economy in the world able to sustain economic growth by means of more jobs and greater social cohesion. The Europe 2020 Strategy also stresses for increased employability and labour market inclusion and has set an employment rate target for its Members States to achieve. The European Social Fund is the European Union's tool helping Member States achieve the goals found in the Europe 2020 Strategy. Initiatives co-financed by the European Social Fund should contribute to increased labour market participation and also improve the skills and education of the citizens by fostering knowledge and innovation. Malta has limited natural resources and a small population which means that the resource of labour is indeed very limited. In order to remain competitive, measures must be taken to ensure that Malta's human resources are not compromised or inefficiently used. Malta has one of the lowest employment rates in the European Union combined with an ageing population. Initiatives must contribute to develop a highly qualified Maltese workforce in order to increase Malta's productivity levels and to compensate for Malta's shrinking workforce. Malta is still facing major bottlenecks to growth with regards to the skills of the Maltese workforce, youth education and local labour market inclusion. This dissertation will discuss how Malta plans to overcome the major bottlenecks that are present in the areas of 'skills and education' and 'labour market inclusion' of the Maltese citizens. It analyses the initiatives taken by the Maltese Government, co-financed by the European Social Fund, in order to effectively make better use of its limited human resources and reach the employment target by 2020.