Malta's green transition, digital transformation, and ageing population necessitate a strategic approach to skills policy. The country faces labour and skills shortages, skills mismatches, and a high share of adults with low levels of skill. These challenges are critical for Malta’s large maritime sector – a key focus of its smart specialisation strategy. Despite efforts to address these issues, a more comprehensive approach to strengthening the skills system is needed. Developing a national skills strategy and action plan, with targeted measures to close skills gaps in the maritime sector, is a top priority, supported by political commitments.
Developing a Skills Strategy for Malta and its Maritime Sector
The Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) of the European Commission and the OECD Centre for Skills, are co-operating to provide technical support to Member States through a project funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument.
This project “Developing a skills strategy for Malta and its maritime sector” for Malta will develop a national skills strategy and an action plan for its implementation. It will also conduct a skills gap assessment for the maritime sector and create a plan to address those gaps. The project will involve multiple government entities and stakeholders to build a shared commitment to carrying out these plans.
Context
Project outputs and activities
This project will support Malta to develop and implement a national skills strategy and corresponding action plan. It will involve multiple government entities and stakeholders in several rounds of consultations to achieve consensus on actions and foster a shared commitment to implementation. Concurrently, the project will support Malta in assessing specific skills gaps within its maritime sector and developing a skills action plan to address these gaps. By using the maritime sector as a pilot, the project will test a new approach, where reforms are guided by a bottom-up assessment of sector-specific needs.
The project will consist of nine Outputs each with a number of underlying activities (see table below). As described on the following pages, there is a clear separation between specific outputs for the national skills strategy (Outputs 2, 3, 5, and 7) and the maritime sector (Outputs 4 and 6), alongside several outputs relevant for both (Outputs 1, 8, and 9).
Results
Malta is politically committed to developing a national skills strategy. As an outcome of the TSI project, it is expected that Maltese authorities know how to implement and adapt their strategy for skills, in line with the EU policy agenda and funding for skills. In the long run, Malta will have developed the skills needed for a more competitive and sustainable economy facilitating the green and digital transitions. The support will also ensure that Malta has the bleu skills needed for the maritime sector, a priority of Malta's smart specialisation strategy. One can expect an increase in the share of workers participating in training, in the general economy and in the maritime sector, and a parallel decrease in labour market tightness, as measured by the number of vacant positions per job seeker.
Key resources
European Commission: "Developing a skills strategy for malta and its maritime sector"
Technical Support Instrument - Country Factsheet: Malta
The project is expected to conclude in June 2026.
Contact: oecdcentre4skills@oecd.org
