Malta businesses beg politicians: stop auctioning parental leave

**Don’t turn family leave into a bidding war, businesses tell politicians**
*By Hot Malta Staff*

Valletta – Maltese employers are pleading with MPs to stop treating parental leave like an auction, warning that competing electoral promises risk piling unsustainable costs on already-stretched island firms.

The plea comes after both major parties floated rival extensions to paid time-off for new parents ahead of next year’s general election. Labour is rumoured to be eyeing a jump from the current 18 weeks at full pay to 26, while the PN has hinted at a “Swedish-style” split that could push the combined maternity-paternity envelope past 30 weeks.

“Family policy should be grounded in evidence, not applause meters,” said David Xuereb, president of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise & Industry. “If we keep one-upping each other every campaign cycle, we’ll simply force SMEs to think twice before hiring women of child-bearing age.”

It’s a concern heard repeatedly along the tight alleys of Strait Street and in the glass-wrapped boardrooms of Ta’ Xbiex: Malta’s workforce is tiny—just 285,000 active workers—and 95 % of companies employ fewer than 10 people. When one employee disappears for half a year on full pay, the ripple is felt instantly.

“We’re not Scandinavia,” pointed out Marisa Attard, who runs a seven-person architectural practice in Sliema. “I already keep a job open for 18 weeks. Double that and I’m basically paying two salaries for one desk. Clients won’t wait.”

**Cultural cross-currents**
Malta’s booming economy—fueled by iGaming, financial services and a turbo-charged construction sector—has masked a demographic time-bomb. The island posts the EU’s lowest fertility rate (1.13) and highest female employment gap (19 % below men). Policy makers argue that generous leave could nudge both numbers in the right direction.

Yet traditional attitudes die hard. Grandparents still expect to mind new-borns, and many fathers quietly waive their four-week statutory paternity quota for fear of appearing “żobb” (soft). “My father-in-law told me the factory gave him two days off when my wife was born,” laughed Kurt Muscat, 31, a software developer who took the full month in 2022. “He loves his grandson, but he still thinks I’m on holiday.”

**Community impact**
At the Ħamara community centre in Birkirkara, manager Ramona Pace sees both sides. “Longer leave helps mums breast-feed longer and lowers post-natal depression,” she said, scrolling through a waiting list for day-care that now stretches to 2026. “But if small businesses respond by freezing recruitment of young women, we’ve replaced one inequality with another.”

The Malta Employers’ Association has floated a compromise: a state-backed reinsurance fund that would cover 50 % of wages after the 14th week, capped at the average industrial wage. “This spreads the cost across society, not just the employer,” argued director Joseph Farrugia.

Government sources say the proposal is “under study”, but ministers are wary of anything that smacks of a new payroll tax. Meanwhile, unions are pushing for EU-level minimum standards that would lock in 20 weeks fully paid regardless of company size.

**What the Nordics actually do**
Sweden’s famous 480-day allowance is funded largely through general taxation, not employer payrolls. Employers there contribute only a temporary replacement levy equal to 0.29 % of salary—something Malta’s social-security system, already creaking under pensions and free childcare, has not budgeted for.

**The way forward**
Business leaders want a tripartite pact sealed before the campaign drums get louder. “Let’s decide the science, publish the fiscal impact, then stick to it for at least a decade,” urged Xuereb.

Back in Birkirkara, Pace agrees. “Family leave should help babies bond, not become a party banner. Otherwise we’ll wake up with a lovely law and no jobs for the parents we’re trying to help.”

As MPs retreat to their districts for summer festas, the message from Malta’s shopkeepers, architects and start-up founders is clear: stop the bidding war, start the conversation.