Almost 40% of Maltese women who do not work cite family responsibilities – as opposed to just 1% of men

Just under four out of every 10 women who do not work and are not looking for a job cite family responsibilities as the reason for staying out of the workforce.

This stands in stark contrast to the number of men, for which no data is even provided in the latest Labour Force Survey.

It is only by calculating the difference in figures in the spreadsheet provided that one can arrive to the proportion of men who do not work to care for children or other family members – 1.2 per cent.

It is well known that the burden of care for children and other family members tends to fall on women, with several schemes and incentives leading to a steady increase in female participation in the workforce over the last two decades.

Despite the improvement, women in Malta remain far more likely than men to remain out of employment to fulfil other duties related to care. In fact, men remain far more economically active than women across all age groups.

All told, there are 158,000 people who do not work and are not looking for work in Malta. A majority, 43 per cent, do not work because they have reached retirement age or took advantage of an early retirement programme.

Another 14 per cent do not work as they are engaged in education or training, while 20 per cent cite “other reasons”.

That leaves 23 per cent – almost a quarter of the total – who cite care or family responsibilities – almost all of whom are women.

The Labour Force Survey is issued by the National Statistics Office, reflecting figures for the period between October and December 2023.