The Labour government has announced ahead of Budget 2024 that workers will be given a €13 weekly increase to help with the rising cost of living and inflation.
Newsbook reported that according to Malta’s National Statistics, the latest inflation figures show “that the annual rate of inflation, as measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), stood at 4.9% in September 2023. This marks a slight decrease from the 5% recorded in August 2023.
Compared to the euro area, Malta’s annual rate of change in September was higher, registering at 4.9%, which was 0.6 percentage points above the 4.31% recorded for the euro area.”
The Employers’ Association already gave advice on what measures the government needs to take. Definitely, I do not agree that pensioners are to be encouraged to keep on working. Were we born to just work endlessly until we die?
In addition, there is another issue that needs to be tackled. If we speak in layman terms, how will this additional increase impact the private sector? Since the private sector is also obliged to give its employees this additional weekly increase, it would need to make up for the total salary increase output. Unless there is enough productivity to make up for the loss and keep the business running smoothly, then the private sector would need to raise the prices of consumables.
So, wouldn’t this impact consumers more, which will make this increase that the government is giving null and void?
Will we see more and more of a rise in prices, induced by the weekly increase that the Labour government is giving?
The government should have never obeyed the COVID-19 agenda.
It is so sad that, as always, it is the people who are held hostage.
At the end of the day, aren’t the lower and middle classes the ones who are suffering most?