Malta appears reluctant to step up the pace of integration of immigrants into the workforce, with results that may be eroding the country’s competitiveness while at the same time encouraging illegal worker exploitation.
The recently-published Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) – an annual study of 25 EU countries and three non-EU countries, produced by a consortium of 25 universities, research institutes and think-tanks – graded Malta’s efforts to integrate foreign workers into the labour market at only 30/100: a statistic which places us well below the EU average of 56.
Malta’s low grade appears to vindicate warnings by the University of Malta’s Centre for Labour Studies, which in September issued a memorandum urging local political parties to regularise the position of immigrant workers, among other measures aimed at improving competitiveness and addressing social injustice.
The CLS memo, which was drawn up by Prof. Godfrey Baldacchino, Mr Manwel Debono, Mr Saviour Rizzo and Prof. Edward Zammit, observes that immigrant workers “are filling a gap in the supply side of labour” by taking on jobs unwanted by the Maltese. It also warns that the situation “may eventually create an underclass or a ghettoisation of relatively deprived persons.”
“The best solution may be to regularise their position by issuing temporary work permits to immigrants from third countries, or by letting them register as guest workers”, the CLS report concludes.
Apart from confirming the impression that immigrants have limited access to legal employment in Malta, MIPEX also highlights a general lack of specific infrastructure governing the entire integration process. By far the most conspicuous statistic arising from the chart regards the “field of application” of Malta’s anti-discrimination measures, where Malta scores a very low 8/100. This suggests that while adequate anti-discrimination laws do exist on paper, the areas to which they can be applied in practice remain too vaguely defined for the legislation to be effective.
On a more positive note, Malta performs well on two integration-related areas: law enforcement (65/100) and family reunion (66/100).
Malta’s integration policy is the responsibility of the Ministry for the Family and Social Solidarity, which runs a government agency, OIWAS, specifically for this purpose. Contacted by MaltaToday, the ministry’s communications coordinator Doriana Bezzina defended Malta’s performance on the grounds that immigration is still a new phenomenon to which the country is gradually adapting.
“Malta’s ranking may appear low but it must be remembered that Malta has only been systematically dealing with integration for the last three years. Other countries have a great deal more experience, and their results are not significantly different”, Bezzina said.
“In Malta’s case, we could say that we have just started discovering the roadmap for the first generation of integration policies as compared to other European countries which are dealing with third generation immigrants. It is a steep learning curve which we are embarking on whilst facing significant operational challenges.”
Bezzina pointed out that efforts to integrate irregular immigrants after detention are often problematic for two reasons: because those who do not intend residing in Malta permanently are not particularly interested in legal employment, but only in saving up enough money for their next step; and because unscrupulous employers exploit the vulnerability of immigrants and do their utmost to evade the legal regime and employ immigrants illegally.
“OIWAS is working hard to support all legally residing third-country nationals (with refugee or humanitarian protection status) to enter into legal employment under the terms their status allows them to. This benefits all parties, and above all ensures that exploitation is avoided.”

rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt