Malta. The pensions myopia – Michael Briguglio
The Labour government is banking on the influx of foreign workers to finance Malta’s pension system. This is the same system which is using revenue from today’s social security contributors to pay today’s pensioners and which will therefore require tomorrow’s social security contributors to pay tomorrow’s pensioners, unless sustainable reform takes place.
In the meantime, Malta is undergoing the process of an ageing population, which means that in the future there will be comparatively less workers available to finance the increasing number of pensioners. The difference between the two demographic groups decrease if more women and foreign workers enter the labour market and/or if the pensionable age is increased.
As things stand, an increasing number of women and foreigners are entering Malta’s labour market, and I would not expect any political party to say it will increase the pensionable age in an electoral programme. It is only reasonable to expect that more women enter the labour market, and here one hopes that a corresponding number of men get more involved in caring duties in addition to employment.
Read More: Times of Malta
