The Malta Employers’ Association organised its Annual General Conference with the theme A Post Recession Scenario for Malta on the 22nd May 2009 at the Grand Hotel Excelsior, Floriana.  It focused on the current global economic climate and how Malta can use the crisis to hit the ground running once the world economy recovers.

The conference looked into the situation of various major economic sectors in Malta and how these stand to benefit from opportunities that will arise following the international recession. The speakers consisted of a spectrum of Maltese and foreign experts who shared their views with the participants during the conference.

The panel of speakers included: Mr Pierre Fava (President, MEA), The Hon Minister Tonio Fenech (Minister of Finance, the Economy and Investment), Mr Joseph Farrugia (Director General, MEA), Mr Josef Formosa Gauci (CEO, Malta Tourism Authority), Ing. Raymond Muscat (Director General, Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise & Industry), Mr Jacques Sciberras (CEO, National Commission for Higher Education), Prof Arnold Cassola (Chairperson, Aternattiva Demokratika), Mr Claudio Grech (CEO, SmartCity Malta), Mr Joseph G Woods (Manager of Innovation, The World Centre for New Thinking) and Prof Dr Abdulla Al Shami who is Professor of Comparative Jurisprudence and Islamic Studies at the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

The Prime Minister Dr Lawrence Gonzi and the Leader of the Opposition Dr Joseph Muscat delivered the closing addresses.

The main sponsors for this event were Atlas Insurance and Exalta while the secondary sponsors were Chemimart Group, Air Malta plc and KONNEKT Talent Search & Selection.

Click here to download the opening address delivered by Mr Pierre Fava, President of the Malta Employers' Association. 

Click on the following links to download the presentations delivered by:

Mr Joseph Farrugia (Director General, MEA)

Ing Raymond Muscat (Director General, Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise & Industry)

Mr Jacques Sciberras (CEO, National Commission for Higher Education)

Mr Claudio Grech (CEO, SmartCity Malta)

Prof Dr Abdulla Al Shami (Professor of Comparative Jurisprudence and Islamic Studies, The Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi, UAE)

The Malta Employers' Association Annual General Conference was held on the 28 November at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta.

The theme of the conference was: Dealing with Labour Shortages. It was in response to the concerns voiced by many employers about the shortage of many types of labour in the market today.

The Minister of Education, Youth & Employment addressed the conference. The guest speaker Mr Henrik Schilder, Vice President, Social Affairs Committee at the European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and of Enterprises of General Economic Interest (CEEP) gave a presentation on Atypical Employment in the EU – A means to increase Labour Supply. Mr Edwin Camilleri, Manager, Labour Market Information at the ETC gave an analysis of unemployment statistics and vacancies. Dr James Calleja, Chief Executive at the Malta Qualifications Council spoke about Skills Gaps – Matching Education with the needs of Employers. It was followed by a panel discussion on the relevance of Malta’s National Qualifications Framework to Employers. Mr Joseph Farrugia, Director General at the Malta Employers’ Association spoke about the Opportunities and Threats of Labour Migration and Mobility. Ms Anna Borg, Senior Executive, Gender Equality Unit at the ETC gave a presentation on how to attract and retain valuable employees through innovative working practices. This was followed by a panel discussion on the practicality of family friendly measures at the work place.

The conference was sponsored by Go Mobile, Newtech, Air Malta as well as Panta Lesco Group of Companies.

Click here to download the opening address delivered by Mr Pierre Fava, President of the Malta Employers' Association. 

The MEA held its Annual General Conference: Maximising the Potential of the Maltese Labour Market on the 30 November at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, Valletta.

The main focus of the conference was ‘Maximising the Potential of the Maltese Labour Market’.  A short clip on the Danish flexicurity model was showed followed by a presentation by Mr Henrik Schilder – Vice President Social Affairs Committee, Danish CEEP Section. Other speakers for the conference included Mr Joseph Farrugia (Director General, MEA) who gave a presentation on the major challenges facing the labour market today, Mr Frank Edwards (Principal and Chief Executive, MCAST) who debated stronger dialogue between education and employers and Mr Keith Psaila (Head of Secretariat for Small Business and the Self Employed, Ministry for Competitiveness and Communication) who promoted entrepreneurship across the education spectrum.

The Minister for Education, Youth and Employment gave the opening address while the Prime Minister delivered the closing address.

This conference was sponsored by Air Malta plc, Atlas Insurance Ltd, Chemimart Group of Companies, Dedicated Micros (M) Ltd, Medicare Services Ltd and Simonds Farsons Cisk plc.

The following is the opening address delivered by Mr Pierre Fava, President of the Malta Employers’ Association.

Honourable Minister, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

It is a pleasure for me to open this annual general conference that is being organised by the
Malta Employers’ Association. The theme of this conference – Maximising the Potential of the Maltese Labour Market – is one that is an important issue to all social partners, one that has implications for all society. More than ever before in its economic history, the Maltese economy is passing through a rapid period of change. The extent to which the country can generate sufficient wealth to sustain its living standards, and to reach the aspirations of its citizens depends strongly on the extent to which the interaction of demand and supply forces of the labour market act in harmony to make the best of our main resource.

Labour market issues are under the spotlight throughout the world. On a global level, the exercise of tripartite social dialogue at the International Labour Organisation has long focused on the core issue of providing decent work for an expanding world population. The ILO’s decent work agenda focuses on employment generation as a means to eradicate world poverty. The reality, however, is one of increasing global unemployment, and the ILO’s ideal is far from being achieved.

At European level, the challenges of globalisation are also provoking a strong debate on the changing nature of the labour market. The insecurity that is faced by the business community, and the need to respond to an international competitive environment that is becoming more aggressive, is also being reflected in the labour market. Just as businesses can no longer count on secure markets, employees are coming to terms with the fact that job security is becoming a thing of the past. Labour market policies are thus shifting the emphasis from job security to employment security. The European Union is also concerned with the fact that it is lagging behind other developed economies in many respects. Productivity is higher in the United States, workers are more highly educated and trained, labour markets are more flexible and there is also better job mobility. For example, the average European stays in the same job for an average of ten years, in the United States the average worker stays in the same employment for six years. The average labour participation rate in EU countries is also lower than that in other economies, and the labour market is subject to rigidities that do not exist elsewhere. Investment in education accounts for 2.9% of GDP in the United States, as against 1.5% in the EU, whereas the level of entrepreneurial activity in the US is 11.8% as compared to less than an average of 6% in the EU. Only 20% of the labour force has completed tertiary education. The corresponding figure for the US stands at 40%.

This vulnerability is also threatening the sustainability of the European social model, (some schools of thought say it is because of it!) particularly considering that the labour force in the EU is ageing rapidly. After 2017, demographic trends predict that both the size of the working population and the number of persons employed in the EU will face a downward trend, and this threatens the ambition of the Lisbon Agenda of upgrading the European Union to become a knowledge based society.

Different countries are adopting a range of measures and policies to deal with these many challenges. For example, Germany has introduced the concept of ‘mini-jobs’ to deal with rising long term unemployment and increase participation among disadvantaged groups. There is a strong debate as to whether these mini-jobs, which number more than 6 million, act as a stepping stone to regular employment, or whether they result in a significant sector of the labour force that is excluded from the benefits of full time employment. Ireland has established a healthy tradition of social dialogue leading to ‘social pacts’ to stabilise industrial relations and that chart economic and social strategies through a consensus between the social partners. Other countries have introduced the concept of flexicurity in their labour markets. Many countries are studying closely the Danish model of flexicurity to learn from the Danish experience of combining the concepts of flexibility with security.

This is a brief description of the environment in which Malta is operating. As part of the global society we cannot lose sight of these important developments and to analyse how we can, particularly as EU members, benefit from transnational experiences. MEA has been monitoring closely these international developments through its affiliations in EU and other international institutions. For example, MEA has recently participated in a conference organised jointly by the International Labour Organisation and the EU Commission with the theme ‘Evolving World of Work in the Enlarged EU – Vulnerability and Social Sustainability’. It is our duty to share these experiences with our expanding membership, and this we do through our publications and through activities such as this conference.

Generating Productive Employment – A National Priority


The Malta Employers’ Association held its Annual General Conference at the Corinthia Palace, Attard on the 25th May 2004. The conference focused on various aspects of the labour market and the Association’s proposals for creating a climate that incentivises employers to create opportunities in Malta, were put forward.

The MEA invited Mr. Christian Welz to address the conference, who is the Research Director of the European Foundation for the Improvement in Living and Working Conditions and he delivered a presentation on the implementation of Social Pacts in European Union countries.

Other speakers for the conference included Mr. Carmel Attard (Acting Head, MIC), Ms. Sue Vella (General Manager (Strategy), ETC) Mr. Joseph Farrugia (Director General, MEA) and Mr. Peter Meli (Head of Investment Targeting, Malta Enterprise). The Hon. Dr. Louis Galea also addressed the Conference.

Amongst other important points, Mr. Christian Welz mentioned the importance of having innovative collective agreements which are based on using the partnership approach (social dialogue) for the improvement of employment and competitiveness. He said that the perquisites for success are three: 1. consensus about the need for change. 2. mutual recognition 3. quid pro quo. Mr. Welz also held that the approach to success is a problem solving approach, that is “involvement, communication, realism.”, hence, it is significant to have joint discussions, joint gathering of information, joint evaluation and joint solutions.

ETC’s representative, Sue Vella, explained what the National Action Plan for employment involves and she also pointed out the key challenges for the coming year. These being the following:

• Strengthen competencies and co-ordination in labour market policy process
• Develop more economical consultation processes
• Strengthen the delivery capacity of key labour market entities
• Encourage individuals and enterprises to raise their skill levels
• Create the conditions that enable the supply of labour
• But above all: To create the conditions and services that enable the start-up and development of job-generating firms.

The Lisbon targets were explained by Mr. Carmel Attard wherein he explained what led the EU to come up with a 10 year commitment, what is this 10 year commitment, what has happened in the past four years, what is the way forward and what are the implications for Malta as an EU member state. He said that the new EU’s strategic goal is “to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based company in the world”. Mr. Meli, from Malta Enterprise spoke about the commitment of Malta Enterpise as well as the real results it is achieving. He also acknowledged the fact that much is still to be done in the area of investment.

Minister Louis Galea said that it was difficult to create jobs in time of restructuring. However, he was optimistic that Malta would be able to face the challenges and in the end have a more competitive economy.

Mr. Farrugia, Director General of MEA, presented the proposals of the Association for generating productive employment. The full document has been printed and distributed among Maltese employers.

Download the speech by Mr. Arthur Muscat, President of MEA.