Malta's progress towards the Europe 2020 employment targets

Abstract

In March 2010, the European Commission launched the second ten year agenda for the European Union (EU): 'Europe 2020 Strategy'. This agenda is built on three key priorities which are smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and five ambitious targets in the following areas; employment, innovation, climate change, education and poverty. All EU member states, including Malta have to reach the agreed national targets by 2020. The main research question examines how Malta fairs with regards to the employment target when compared with the EU average. In trying to answer the main research question, I shall focus on the challenges and prospects that Malta is facing to reach the employment target. It also compares concurrent state of affairs and strategies in employment in Malta with Denmark. The study will also suggest how Malta can achieve its employment targets and how the Maltese economy can benefit from such an accomplishment. The research design draws on a mix of primary and secondary sources such as, academic text books, official journals, articles, published works, reports, official EU documents and online sources. In addition, official statistical data will be used when comparing Malta's employment indicators with other countries. Hence, this study will be conducted using both quantitative and qualitative research. Strategies and policies which were implemented to target Europe 2020 will also be assessed. Given that Denmark has an ambitious employment target and adopted a significant number of plausible measures to achieve it, we will be using it as a comparative case study to assess Malta's performance in achieving an unambitious target.