In 2023, nearly 96 per cent of new graduates in Malta, an island nation in Southern Europe were employed, according to the European Union’s statistical office, Eurostat.
This makes Malta’s employment rate for recent graduates, the highest among 22 EU countries, exceeding the EU average of 83.5 per cent.
This means that students in the country are more likely to secure a job offer after graduation. Following Malta, the Netherlands, Iceland, Germany, and Austria also recorded notable employment rates for recent graduates.
Conversely, the lowest employment rates were observed in Italy (67.5 per cent), Greece (72.3 per cent), Romania (74.8 per cent), Croatia (78.2 per cent), and Spain (78.7 per cent). Eurostat highlighted that the overall employment rate for recent graduates in the EU steadily increased over the past decade, reaching nearly 84 per cent in 2023.
In 2013, the rate was 74.3 per cent and has been consistently rising, except the pandemic-affected year 2020 (78.7 per cent), which saw a decrease of 2.3 percentage points compared to 2019 (81 per cent).
Top 20 in-demand jobs in Malta for local and foreign talent
Despite having a high employment rate for new graduates, Malta still requires an additional workforce to fill numerous vacancies across the country.
One contributing factor could be Malta’s population size, which was estimated at 542,051 in 2022.
The 2023 EURES report on shortages and surpluses highlighted that Malta is experiencing shortages in 20 occupations across various industries, including manufacturing, construction, healthcare, food service and hospitality, business and administration, and transportation.
According to the report, some of the professionals facing a worker shortage in Malta include:
- Messengers, package deliverers and luggage porters
- Manufacturing labourers not elsewhere classified
- Building construction labourers
- Cleaners and helpers in offices, hotels and other establishments
- Car, taxi and van drivers
- Security guards
- Health care assistants
- Child care workers
- Shop sales assistants
- Bartenders
- Waiters
- Accounting and bookkeeping clerks
- Contact centre information clerks
- Bookmakers, croupiers and related gaming workers
- General office clerks
- Chefs
- Administrative and executive secretaries
- Office supervisors
- Business services and administration managers not elsewhere classified
- Managing directors and chief executives
Given the shortages and its population size, Malta is particularly focused on attracting highly skilled workers.
In response to this need, Malta has introduced the Specialist Employee Initiative (SEI), which serves as an alternative for highly skilled third-country nationals (TCNs) who do not qualify for the Key Employee Initiative but possess the necessary academic or technical skills for jobs offered in Malta.
According to Identita, an agency under the Maltese government, only TCNs who have secured an employment contract with a company registered in Malta are eligible to apply under this scheme.
