Job opportunities in Gozo

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to analyse the performance of the various sectors of economic activity in Gozo offering employment opportunities to the island’s labour force, with a view to forecast the level of employment in the short run. All the leading sectors will thus be examined in terms of employment capacity and their contribution to total employment. A second objective is concerned with making estimates of the availability of manpower in order to compare manpower requirements with manpower availability. One possible kind of disequilibrium which may result is unemployment. Forecasting future levels of employment and unemployment requires sets of information according to the method or technique adopted. Unfortunately, relevant information related to the Gozo labour market is very minimal. In fact, no useful official data whatsoever exist that treat Gozo as a separate region except for population estimates and manpower in the agricultural sector. This study is, therefore, almost entirely based on unpublished data obtained from the Department of Labour and Emigration. However, the department has been collecting data regarding employment in Gozo since September 1978 and the last data available at the time of this research are those for June 1983. The information gathered consists mainly of a breakdown of the Gozo labour force according to the various sectors of industry. Thus, the sample size used throughout this study is a time series consisting of twenty quarterly observations. […]