Single Salary, Maltese Reality: Can One Income Still Pay the Rent in 2024?

Can One Pay Packet Still Keep a Maltese Roof Over Your Head?
The reality of single-income living in 2024

By Kristina Zammit

VALLETTA – On the surface, Malta’s job market is booming. Unemployment is stuck at a historic 3 %, cranes puncture every skyline and recruiters still plaster bus stops with “Urgently Needed” stickers. Yet ask any parent on the Sliema school run or newly-weds in Żabbar whether one salary still covers life here and the answer is a nervous laugh followed by a rapid-fire list of direct debits: €900 rent for a two-bed in Msida, €250 childcare, €120 summer electricity, €60 internet, €80 weekly shopping that somehow creeps to €100 if the kids spot Nutella. The total is sobering; the feeling is universal: the legendary “single-income household” is gasping for air.

Culturally, Malta clings to the idea that one breadwinner – historically the man – should be enough. Grandmothers at the village festa still drop the phrase “il-kelma ta’ sid il-dar” (the word of the master of the house), and pensioners remember when a dockyard pay packet bought a Paola townhouse outright. That narrative lingers in parish halls and political rhetoric, but the numbers tell a different story. National Statistics Office figures show the average gross annual salary at €22,500. After tax and social-security contributions that leaves roughly €1,450 monthly. The European Housing Exclusion Index ranks Malta fourth-worst for housing overburden: 38 % of renters spend more than 40 % of disposable income on rent. Do the maths and a lone wage is already underwater before the first Festa fireworks bill arrives.

The property spiral is only half the headache. Grocery prices have jumped 25 % since 2019, faster than any EU median rise. “I can explain inflation to my six-year-old, but I can’t explain why a Cisk six-pack costs more than my first mobile phone bill,” jokes Clayton Mifsud, 34, a Birkirkara IT technician who became the family’s sole earner when his wife was made redundant from a gaming company last year. Clayton negotiated four days remote to avoid after-school club fees, but the trade-off was a €400 pay cut. “We cancelled Netflix, swapped UĦM gym for YouTube workouts, and still end each month €150 in the red,” he says, bouncing his toddler on his knee during our Zoom call. Their story is replicated in Facebook group “Malta Single Income Survivors”, which grew from 200 to 7,000 members in eighteen months. Posts swing from bulk-buying chicken at Pitkalija to swapping seeds for balcony vegetables. Administrators constantly remind users: no politics, no shame.

Employers are beginning to notice. “We’ve lost three senior developers who followed spouses abroad,” says Diane Attard, HR director at a St Julian’s fintech firm. In response the company now offers a €250 monthly “sole breadwinner” allowance and flexible hours for primary carers. Yet such schemes remain boutique. Eurofound data shows Malta has the EU’s widest gender employment gap, largely because childcare costs cancel the second wage. Government’s 2024 budget extended free kindergarten to age three, but places are scarce south of the airport; private centres charge €300-€450 a month, equivalent to a take-home starter salary.

Community structures that once cushioned single-earner eras – extended family under one roof, village grocery tabs, church charities – are fraying. “My mum raised four kids on my dad’s port income because the whole street watched us,” recalls 58-year-old Gozitan seamstress Rita Camilleri. “Now my son pays €800 for a studio in Xewkija; if his wife stops work they’re evicted.” NGOs like Caritas report a 66 % spike in working-poor families seeking food aid, many with one full-time job between them. “It’s the new face of in-work poverty,” warns director Leonid McKay.

Can policy reverse the tide? Economists argue for rent-caps indexed to wages, higher child-benefit tapering and tax credits for companies that guarantee a living wage. Opposition MP and economist Rebekah Borg points to Singapore’s tiered housing grants: “If we believe in the family unit, we must make one income viable again, not nostalgic folklore.” Until then, Maltese couples keep colour-coding Excel budgets and praying the washing machine doesn’t die. Single-income living isn’t impossible, but it has become a high-wire act above a very Mediterranean abyss – and the safety net is looking frayed.