Malta needs 14,000 more workers next year.
Adrian Delia
The government's Draft Budgetary Plan 2027 projects full-time equivalent employment to grow by 3.9% in 2027. On a base of about 357,800, that is about 14,000 more full-time jobs. In the past decade, most of the growth in Malta's workforce came from foreign workers.How we reached this verdict ↓
Analysis and evaluation
The government's own forecast puts the figure at about 14,000. The Draft Budgetary Plan 2027, which the Ministry for Finance sent to the European Commission on 15 October 2026, projects full-time equivalent employment to grow by 3.9% in 2027.
3.9% of the workforce is about 14,000 jobs
The plan puts full-time equivalent employment at 343,400 in 2025 and projects growth of 4.2% in 2026, which takes it to about 357,800. A further 3.9% in 2027 adds about 14,000. The speaker's figure matches the forecast.
The forecast assumes no change in hours worked, so it is a forecast of demand for labour, measured in full-time jobs. The European Commission's Spring 2026 forecast is lower, at 3.1% employment growth in 2027, which would mean about 11,000 jobs on the same base.
Most new workers in recent years came from abroad
Malta's unemployment rate is projected at 3.2% in 2027, so there are few local jobseekers to fill these jobs. In the Budget speech, the Minister for Finance said the number of workers in Malta grew by about 130,000 between 2015 and 2025. Maltese and Gozitan workers rose from about 180,000 to about 205,000, while foreign workers rose by about 106,000. The Commission's forecast says employment growth of 3.9% in 2025 was "underpinned by inflows of foreign workers".
Neither the government nor the Commission forecasts how many of the 2027 jobs will go to foreign workers. If the pattern of the past decade holds, most will.
Editorial note
How we assessed this claim
We read the claim as a statement about the government's forecast for employment growth in 2027, since no one can measure next year's need for workers directly.
We applied the growth rates in the Draft Budgetary Plan 2027 to its own figure for full-time equivalent employment in 2025.
True, because the government's forecast gives about 14,000 more full-time jobs in 2027.
Limitations
- The figure is a forecast, measured in full-time equivalents, not a count of people. Part-time work means the number of people employed may grow by more.
- The European Commission's Spring 2026 forecast is lower, at 3.1% growth in 2027.
- Neither forecast says how many of the new jobs will be filled by foreign workers.
Sources
- Ministry for Finance, Draft Budgetary Plan 2027, Table 2.1 and Appendix Table 1.c (15 October 2026)
- European Commission, Spring 2026 Economic Forecast, Malta
- Budget Speech 2027, Hon. Clyde Caruana, 26 October 2026, p. 28 (labour market)