Vacant Situation: Classifieds Vanish From Malta’s Newspapers After Mass Industry Shutdowns
Countless classified ads have vanished from Maltese newspapers in the last couple of days, with the current COVID-19 crisis seemingly ringing the death knell for an already-declining practice.
Following large swathes of industries being shut down and with the threat of an economic recession looming just beyond the horizon, Malta’s job opportunities have seemingly run dry on print, with newspapers’ Classified sections becoming ghost towns.
The number of job postings in the Classified section had been dwindling over recent weeks, but there wasn’t even one single positing in today’s Times of Malta edition.
And while some job listings are still being posted online, it’s still rather surreal to see a newspaper devoid of any Classified ads. Meanwhile, it is of course worth remembering that Classifieds also include things like car and property listings… and it is in fact the latter that was the last one standing in Maltese newspapers.
This week's editions of Times of Malta only had one ad in the Classifieds section; property for sale
By today, the Classifieds section had disappeared altogether
Several industries have been shut down amidst the global pandemic, with the government imposing necessary but drastic measures to successfully fight the spread of the virus.
Following Prime Minister Robert Abela’s announcement that several restrictions will soon be lifted and outlining of a rough exit strategy, several non-essential retail stores will be allowed to reopen on Monday under certain conditions.
Wage benefits designed to help businesses keep hold of their employees during the COVID-19 pandemic have still been extended to June, and all businesses which currently apply for the supplement will still be able to get it in a month’s time.
So far, more than €25,000,000 has been distributed, covering 87,808 jobs. Over €23 million of this has gone to workers who have been completely shut down because of the pandemic. Despite this, there have still been a number of redundancies across the island’s different industries.
What do you make of this phenomenon? Let us know in the comments below
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