News • February 1 2004

Labour strongholds have highest unemployment

Kurt Sansone

Data revealed in the House of representatives this week have reconfirmed the general perception that joblessness is heavy in localities in the south of Malta with the blight concentrated in the Cottonera area.
An analysis conducted by MaltaToday proves that of the 10 localities registering a high percentage of unemployment at least six are in the south with, St Paul’s Bay, that includes Bugibba, being the only locality in the north featured in the list. The level of joblessness in the south appears to be intrinsically linked to the popularity of the Labour party against that of the Nationalist party.
A calculation of registered unemployed as a percentage of the total population of a locality shows that the little village of Xghajra on the outskirts of Zabbar has the highest rate at 5.5 per cent.

Following Xghajra, Bormla is the second highest when it comes to unemployment at 5.4 per cent and Valletta is third at 4.9 per cent.
Isla, Marsa, Zebbug in Gozo, Birgu, St Paul’s Bay, Kalkara and Marsaskala make up the rest of the 10 localities with the highest percentage of registered unemployed.
Unemployment rates in these localities are probably higher if the registered unemployed are calculated as a percentage of the working population since most of the areas have ageing populations.
Six of these localities – Bormla, Birgu, Valletta, Marsa, Isla, Xghajra – also have the lowest rate of students attending Junior College (students as a percentage of locality population) according to statistics released in November last year.
Apart from St Paul’s Bay, Valletta and Zebbug in Gozo, all localities are Labour Party strongholds giving credence to the popular perception that traditional working class areas are suffering the brunt of the unemployment crisis. Social problems in the areas are further compounded by an ageing population, lack of education and cheap housing that attracts all sorts of people facing personal and family difficulties.
This contrasts heavily with the 10 bottom placed localities registering the least number of unemployed, which all happen to be Nationalist-leaning.
The analysis shows that unemployment is virtually non-existent in some of the highly affluent areas in the north with Attard, Mellieha and Swieqi having unemployment levels below one per cent. Other localities on the lower rungs include Iklin, Mosta, Balzan and Lija, all Nationalist-leaning localities with the registered unemployed just hitting the one per cent mark.
The seven localities with the lowest percentage of unemployed - Iklin, Mosta, Balzan, Lija, Attard, Mellieha, Swieqi - also have a high percentage of students attending Junior College when compared with other localities.
Chris Agius, Labour MP on the second district, says he is concerned with the numbers. Talking to MaltaToday, Mr Agius said the towns of Bormla, Birgu, Isla, Kalkara and Xghajra saw an increase of 240 people registering as unemployed since 1998. In November 2003 there were 757 people from these towns registering as unemployed.
The unemployment statistics given in Parliament by Minister Louis Galea refer to November 2003 while locality populations utilised for the purpose of this analysis refer to 2002 and were obtained from the National Statistics Office.
Mr Agius pinned the problem of unemployment in the second district to the high incidence of low-skilled labourers in the area. "It is a fact that those jobs that require no trade or academic qualification, those known as non-skilled labourers are becoming more and more difficult to find. And it is a known fact that the majority of those unemployed in this area lack the skills necessary for today’s jobs."
The Labour MP also hit out at the Cottonera project for failing to create the jobs that were much publicised when the project was still on the drawing board.
"The much publicised jobs that were to be generated with the advent of the Cottonera project are still to be seen. Meanwhile, I hope that people from these areas are given precedence if they have the necessary qualifications."
Mr Agius claimed that nothing has been done to help people in the Cottonera area. "Studies have been conducted, but year after year we are seeing a larger number of youths leaving school unskilled. Although the ETC has a regional office in Bormla, what has been done to help people prepare for the jobs that were, and would be created? What did the Department of Education do, all through these years, to help better the situation of students from these areas who after years of schooling are illiterate?"
Last year only four students from Bormla passed the Junior Lyceum exam and Mr Agius is still waiting for an answer to a parliamentary question on the number of university admissions broken down according to locality. He is almost certain that the number of students from the Cottonera area and the south will be on the downside, simply reconfirming the problems afflicting the area. "We need action not words and studies," Mr Agius insisted.
But sociologist Fr Joe Inguanez was not so sure about the precariousness of the situation. "Are those who are registered as ‘unemployed’ really unemployed? How can one quantify the number of those working in the black economy and at the same time registering as unemployed? The lifestyle of some registered unemployed seems to betray the latter position," he told MaltaToday.
"It is true that one can argue that the residents of the South do not carry much political clout with this government. But the extent to which this is true must be systematically analysed," Fr Inguanez added.

kurt@newsworksltd.com