Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/824559
2 CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 Moreo- ver, Muscat said the childcare service would be made avail- able to those enrolled in a full- time study programme, while it would also be available during the night. "Just because a person doesn't have normal working hours doesn't mean they should be precluded from using the ser- vice," Muscat said. The government would also be looking to extend the service to other localities, especially those of high commercial activity, and would be offering a tax deduc- tion of up to €4,000 to those using private childcare services. Employers offering childcare services would be benefitting from a tax deduction of €50,000. Muscat said that the govern- ment's success in creating jobs and improving working condi- tions was "without precedent" since never before had there been such creation of wealth, adding that this could be attrib- uted to implementation of vari- ous government policies. Another category of proposals Muscat said would be imple- mented by a Labour adminis- tration was that of improving working conditions. He said the government had inherited a situation where the government was the "primary sponsor" of precarious work, ex- plaining that the use of such em- ployment had been reduced sig- nificantly through the closure of loopholes and the "blacklisting" of certain companies. Muscat acknowledged, how- ever, that there were will cases of abuse, especially in the private sector. He said that the next step would be ensuring that people working in the private sector who do the same job, are paid equally. Furthermore, Muscat said that the government would like to in- crease family-friendly measures, especially in the private sector. In light of this, tax credits of up to €30,000 would be introduced for smaller companies to set up teleworking and flexible hours systems. This, he said, should also help people who would not have considered working, to join the workforce, to the benefit of employers. Lastly, Muscat said the govern- ment wanted to introduce two changes to workers' leave. First, he said the government wanted to keep its promise to allow em- ployees to use their sick leave to care for their children or loved ones. He said that discussions were underway, and while there was some resistance on the part of employers, the reform is ex- pected to be implemented by 2018. In addition to this, he said that a reform of the parental leave system would also be intro- duced. Muscat explained that cur- rently, through government in- tervention, a system was in place which ensures that the burden of maternity leave is not divided among all workers in a company. "Today it doesn't make a dif- ference, cost-wise, whether you employ a man or a woman," Muscat said of the "feminist measure". He said that now, the second part of the reform would be im- plemented and the government would be introducing, wherever possible, the concept of parental leave. "Families will be able to dis- tribute leave as they see fit, and not necessarily at one go," he said, adding that quality of life would be the next priority for the country. Muscat insisted that all the proposals would be discussed with social partners and stake- holders, adding however, that the country could take it given that the economic outlook con- tinues to be a positive one. Busuttil on jobs Addressing a press conference at Ta' Xbiex, PN leader Simon Busuttil said that 30,000 jobs would be created in the private sector and they will see the aver- age salary rate in Malta shoot up by between 25-30%. When asked by MaltaToday where the human capital would come from, given Malta's low unemployment rate, Busut- til was inconclusive –saying that they would be taken up by youths graduating from univer- sity. Busuttil also said that a PN government will commit itself to registering a budget surplus every year, and will introduce a clause in the Constitution that will oblige governments to pre- sent balanced budgets barring exceptional circumstances. It will also seek to cut away at the national debt in real terms and update laws regulating the financial services, gaming, avia- tion and marine sectors to "stay ahead of the curve". Busuttil also said that he will appoint a special Brexit envoy and set up an economic council that will advise him on the long- term economic repercussions of government policies. Most crucially, the PN leader repeatedly stressed that he will seek to rebuild Malta's interna- tional reputation – which he said has taken a severe knock due to corruption at the heart of the Labour government. "Joseph Muscat has wasted the opportunity presented to him by Malta's EU presidency. The world's eyes aren't on us because of the presidency, but because we are in the middle of an election campaign, which is very rare for a country with the presidency." He warned that the fate of key industries in Malta, including the financial services, gaming and construction industries, is hanging in the balance and that a Labour election victory could see several companies relocate to other countries. "22,000 people work in finan- cial services whose jobs depend on Malta's international reputa- tion and their jobs are hanging in the balance," he said. "If Jo- seph Muscat wins the election, then financial services compa- nies will take it as a sign that we have chosen the path of corrup- tion." Edward Scicluna reacts to PN proposals "Malta has the highest rate of growth, far exceeding the Euro- pean average, when it comes to jobs. It also has record low un- employment," Edward Scicluna, Finance Minister yesterday told a press conference. He argued that this had con- tributed to a 50% reduction in the number of people living in poverty or at risk of poverty. "This was achieved through a series of well-thought out budg- ets following the best studies on structural reforms," Scicluna said. The government's policies, he said, had been driven by two main factors: increased female participation in the workforce and a set of initiatives aimed at "making work pay". Scicluna explained that Mal- ta's disproportionately low level of female workers represented a "hidden resource" which the government had exploited through a number of family friendly measures. Displaying a graph of female participation, Scicluna acknowl- edged that this growth would have continued, no matter who was in government. The graph showed that the rate had signifi- cantly increased during the last legislature. He said that measures such as free childcare for those who work, the reduction in tax for people using private childcare facilities, breakfast clubs at school, tax credits for working women above 40 years, higher benefits for maternity leave, and a reduction in the burden of ma- ternity leave on employers had all contributed to the acceler- ated rate of females entering the workforce. The second driver of economic growth, was a set of initiatives aimed at "making work pay". He said the government had first sought to reduce the burden of tax from employment, through a reduction in income tax. "We reduced tax from work, not consumption," Scicluna said. He pointed to the in-work ben- efits scheme, which he said was significantly higher for those in employment, and the tapering of benefits scheme, which allowed individuals who entered the workforce to keep their benefits for a number of years. Scicluna said that roughly 5,000 people had benefitted from the two schemes. In explaining that the PN pro- posals effectively offer a lesser incentive to work, Scicluna ex- plained that the measures in- troduced by the Labour admin- istration resulted in a situation where those choosing to go out and work stood to gain roughly €10,000 a year more than fami- lies living on benefits. "There is an incentive this way, it is no longer a poverty trap," said Scicluna. He said that the PN's propos- als of "everything for everyone" reduced the difference and of- fered less of an incentive: "When we calculated the PN's propos- als we found that this difference had dropped to €41 a week – or roughly €2,165 a year." This, Scicluna argued, meant that the difference in annual income between a family that works, and a family that doesn't, will drop from €10,000 to €2,000. "Where is the incentive to work now?" Scicluna asked. Reporting by Yannick Pace and Tim Diacono maltatoday, TUESDAY, 16 MAY 2017 News Do you really trust any one of them? Vote AD. 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