In 2023, nearly half of all non-EU workers in Malta were overqualified for their jobs, according to a new Eurostat study.
The proportion of overqualified non-EU workers in Malta rose sharply from 18.2% in 2016 to 48.7%, an increase of 30.5 percentage points in seven years. This figure is 9.3 percentage points above the EU average of 39.4%.
While the EU average of overqualified non-EU workers decreased from 45.2% to 39.4% between 2016 and 2023, Malta experienced the opposite trend, with a significant rise in overqualification rates.
The data also reveals gender disparities: in 2023, 56.9% of non-EU female workers in Malta were overqualified, compared to 42% of male workers.
These rates are higher than the EU averages of 42.9% for women and 36.2% for men.
Age-wise, 50.5% of younger non-EU workers (20-34) and 46.9% of older non-EU workers (35-64) in Malta felt overqualified. In contrast, only 12.6% of Maltese nationals and 11.8% of workers from other European countries reported being overqualified, both figures below the EU averages of 20.8% and 31.3%, respectively.
Greece, Italy, and Spain reported the highest rates of overqualified non-EU citizens, while Luxembourg had the lowest rates for both nationals and EU workers.
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