Watch: People Are Getting Poorer Despite Malta’s Low Unemployment Rate, Adrian Delia Warns
Nationalist MP Adrian Delia has cast a scathing look at the state of the Maltese economy, warning that several people are getting poorer despite record low unemployment rates.
“It’s a disaster,” Delia said on the F Living Show yesterday when asked to respond to statistics showing Malta’s unemployment rate has continued reaching record lows despite massive global shocks to the economy.
“While a low unemployment rate is something to be celebrated, one must look at the quality of workers’ income; as it stands people are working to survive and are living day to day. We don’t need to know about GDP and unemployment numbers but data about people’s quality of life.”
Delia linked this perceived downturn in people’s quality of life with a decline in their purchasing power, fuelled by the global inflation crisis and the economic impact of a high migration rate to Malta.
@lovinmaltaofficial What do you make of Delia’s statement? 🤔👀 #malta #maltatiktok #lovinmalta #lovinmalta #fypmalta #fyp #adriandelia ♬ original sound – Lovin Malta
“People used to live a decent life on €1,000 a month but now the population has increased by 100,000 in ten years and some have reduced the power of our salaries through precarious work and poor work conditions,” he warned.
“Our earning power has gone down, therefore our purchasing power has gone down, and now everyone is working but on very low salaries. So the €1,000 has now become €900, and meanwhile everything from rent and transport to raw materials and services has become more expensive.”
“It’s useless boasting that there are more people working, we should be talking about how much we are earning.”
Delia cast an eye on the upcoming Budget, during which the COLA mechanism is expected to increase workers’ salaries by a record of over €10 a week to compensate for soaring prices.
“This means that you are currently earning €10 less every week and the government is now trying to compensate you for what you have already lost,” he explained.
“We now need to find out how we are going to recover this money, whether it will be forked out by employers or the government, and where it will come from. It’s useless to simply say that we don’t have unemployment… we need people who are gainfully employed, and not people who are working to survive.”
The PN has urged the government to allocate public funds to help businesses deal with the record COLA rate, warning that businesses will increase their product prices otherwise, which will further increase inflation.
Do you agree with Adrian Delia’s economic assessment?
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