As expected, the COVID-19 pandemic has reversed a long-trend of declining unemployment figures locally. Statistics for the month of April show an increase of 2,231 persons registering as unemployed, double the same period last year.

Asked to react to the figures, JP Fabri, an economist and one of two founding partners of Seed, a newly launched consultancy firm, commented that “we are in for the long-haul as businesses will be operating below capacity, and, coupled with unemployment, we are looking at underemployment impacting our country’s productivity and competitiveness”.

Despite Government providing wage benefits for industries deemed to be worst impacted by the virus, Mr Fabri highlighted that it is no surprise COVID-19 is leaving a trail of job losses.

“The jump in April is significant. It is worth noting that Malta had a very low rate of unemployment before COVID-19 struck, however the increase has been pretty significant,” he said.

“This is expected to continue increasing in the short-term as the effects of COVID-19 will continue impacting the economy.

“Even though restriction measures are being lifted gradually, there is going to be a long lag till normality is achieved again and this will impact employment,” he cautioned.

Therefore, it becomes important “to ensure that measures are implemented to support firms in keeping their employees at work whilst giving them training to up-skill themselves and possibly retrain.

“Special attention must also be given to the vulnerable cohorts such as people with a disability.”

Due to the projected dent to Malta’s competitiveness, as businesses will operate below capacity, Mr Fabri stressed the importance of all stakeholders coming together “behind a common vision and economic recovery plan to support Malta’s economy and adjust to this unexpected economic shock”.

“As a country we need to be agile and adapt to the new reality.”

According to the NSO figures, those registering for work for less than 21 weeks and those registering between 21 and 52 weeks also increased when compared to April 2019 levels.

The largest increase was recorded among persons who had been registering for less than 21 weeks. On the other hand, those who had been registering for work for more than one year decreased when compared to the same month last year.

The number of persons with a disability who were registering for work increased by 35 when compared to the previous year, reaching 253 in April 2020.

Males accounted for 70 per cent of total registrants with a disability.

The largest share of males and females on the unemployment register sought occupations as clerical support workers, with 21.4 per cent and 33.3 per cent, respectively.