28. Malta

This country profile highlights current inclusive entrepreneurship policy issues and recent policy developments. It also benchmarks self-employment and entrepreneurship data for women, youth, seniors and immigrants in Malta against the European Union average.

    

Key trends

The self-employment rate was approximately equivalent to the average European Union (EU) rate in 2018 (13.2% vs. 13.7%). Youth self-employment has declined over the past decade – 4.9% of working youth were self-employed in 2009 and only 2.1% were in 2018. Conversely, the proportion of working women who were self-employed has also risen slightly, from 6.1% in 2009 to 7.6% in 2018. The self-employment rate for older people had been slightly above the EU average for the past decade, but has declined from 20.5% in 2009 to 17.9% in 2018. Self-employed women and youth were more likely than the EU average to have employees, while self-employed immigrants were less likely.

Hot issue

The availability of entrepreneurship support initiatives has increased in recent years, largely due to the number of new youth entrepreneurship support initiatives that were launched as part of the National Youth Policy: Towards 2020 – including an increased availability of entrepreneurship education. In parallel, there has also been a number of new family-friendly measures aimed at encouraging and supporting women in the labour market.

Recent policy developments

In December 2018, the Malta Business Disability Forum (MBDF), was launched as a joint initiative between the Commission for the Rights of Persons with Disability, Malta Chamber of SMEs, Malta Employers’ Association, and Malta Chamber of Commerce. It aims to strengthen the relationship between the disability and business sectors to increase the labour market participation of those who experience disability. There is a special focus on creating a supportive environment for entrepreneurship through the provision of entrepreneurship training to people who experience disability and creating accessible business incubation structures.

This profile is based on a recent country assessment report, which can be found at: www.oecd.org/cfe/leed/inclusive-entrepreneurship.htm.

Key inclusive entrepreneurship data

Figure 28.1. Entrepreneurship and self-employment data for Malta

Notes: The self-employment rate is defined as the number of self-employed people (15-64 years old) divided by the number of people in employment. The TEA rate is the proportion of adults (18-64 years old) involved in setting up a business or managing a business that is less than 42 months old. Necessity entrepreneurship is defined as entrepreneurship activities that were launched because there were no other options in the labour market. Early-stage entrepreneurs are those who are in the process of setting up a business or managing a business that is less than 42 months old. The EU average in Panels D-F excludes Czech Republic and Malta for the period 2014-18 and Malta for the period 2009-13.

Sources: Panels A and B: Eurostat (2019), Labour Force Survey, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/lfs/data/database; Panel C: Eurostat (2018), Self-employment, Labour Force Survey ad-hoc module, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/lfs/data/database; Panels D-F: Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (2019), Special tabulations of the GEM survey 2014-18.

 StatLink https://doi.org/10.1787/888934066938