Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1269236
7 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 15 JULY 2020 NEWS We are recruiting! Interested candidates are kindly requested to send their CV along with a covering letter to info@mediatoday.com.mt by not later than noon on Monday 20 July 2020. Only selected applicants will be summoned for an interview. • • • • • JOURNALISTS MediaToday Co Ltd Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 Tel. 21382741 • info@mediatoday.com.mt BUSINESS TODAY MATTHEW VELLA WOMEN in Malta are report- ing greater use in teleworking arrangements, as well as taking slightly greater load in childcare responsibilities. According to data from the Na- tional Statistics Office on work-life reconciliation, women in 2018 had slightly more childcare responsibil- ities (41,701) than men (40,452). But it appears that more wom- en are adapting their careers or workloads to take on caring re- sponsibilities, a preliminary publi- cation on the data shows. Women with care responsibili- ties worked on average 34.3 hours per week, while men were work- ing 42.2 hours per week, that is 8 hours more. Almost one in five women (20%) had reduced their working time whereas 12.7 % of men resorted to ways in which they could increase their income. And more women reported flex- ibility in organising their working time to take whole days off (41.1% as opposed to 31.2% of men). One in every three employees (32.8%) with care responsibilities reported flexible working arrange- ments. A larger share of women, 56.2%, had the possibility to vary the start and end of their working day when compared to their male counterpart, 40.6%. Teleworking arrangements were used by more females, 17.4%, then men, 11.4%. The NSO said that long working hours was the most common ob- stacles cited (21.8%) for reconcili- ating work and family life. Caring for children and elderly More than one fourth took care of children under 15 years of age (26.4%), 3.5% took care of ill, el- derly or disabled relatives and 2.1% reported multigenerational care responsibilities. On average, persons with child- care responsibilities were 39 years old while those with ill, elderly or disabled care responsibilities were 48 years old. The majority of persons with care responsibilities were em- ployed (78.2 per cent), 20.4% were inactive and a further 1.4% were unemployed. One in every 4 persons with childcare responsibilities used childcare services. The majority of persons with childcare respon- sibilities arranged care alone or with their partner (60.2%) while for 12.7% children could take care of themselves. Nearly 12% of persons with childcare responsibilities had in- formal support in their children's care namely grandparents' help (11.6%). The majority of persons aged between 18 and 64 stated that despite being employed and having children they did not take a career break (66.1%). Women more likely to adapt working hours to caring responsibilities