EU membership and Malta's policies to reduce youth unemployment

Abstract

This study aims to examine youth unemployment in Malta, especially since EU membership was sought in 2004. It examines the. current situation of Malta in comparison with the other EU Member States, whilst at other times, trends are used between Malta and the EU-28 average, to analyse whether Malta reduced youth unemployment or not. The reason why youths were chosen for this analysis is in view of the fact that this is considered as a vulnerable group and at times of crises, the effects are immediately transposed into higher youth unemployment rates, as in the case of the sovereign debt crisis. The researcher will also analyse the determinants leading to youth unemployment in Malta, to verify "whether the youth unemployment is caused by the supply or demand factors as outlined by the International Labour Organisation. In the case of Malta, the supply side factors are more worrying than the demand side factors. Therefore, policies and strategies are more geared towards the education system in order to counteract the early school leaving phenomenon. In addition, Malta is committed to reach the 2020 targets, therefore increasing employability, tackling early leavers and decreasing social marginalisation are a must. Since Malta joined the EU, youth unemployment has decreased from 16.5% in 2004 to 13 % in 2013. Youth unemployment also decreased by age, gender and educational attainment, even in comparison with the other EU Member States. In fact one can deduce that the youth unemployment rate is quite linked to the temporary phenomenon of youth unemployment rather than a pem1anent phenomenon. The fact that Malta has certain commitments such as reaching the 2020 targets, could have helped to reduce such rates. Although, the EU establishes the targets to be reached, at the same time, tries to help its Member States by devising strategies and gearing funding towards problematic areas depending on the Member State's needs. In the case of Malta, during the programming period 2007-2013, the funding \Vas geared towards five priority axis. However, according to PPCD, the main schemes that have helped reducing youth unemployment were the 'Youth Employment Programme', 'Youth Guarantee' and the 'Employability Programme'. The next programming pe1iod which will cover forn1 2014-2020, will have more specific policies and schemes geared towards reducing youth unemployment. For this reason, funding together with other policies could have helped decrease the youth unemployment in Malta.