Malta’s labour market is gearing up for a dramatic shift: those with low qualifications will all but vanish, underscoring a clear message—Malta’s future economy will reward skills. According to the Cedefop Skills Forecast 2025 report for Malta, over the next decade and a half the island’s workforce will outpace the rest of the EU-27 in job growth, while transforming in composition and opportunity.

Between 2015 and 2019, employment on the island expanded at nearly 3% per year—almost four times the EU average—even maintaining growth through the Covid-19 shock in 2020. Forecasts now predict annual growth of 1.8–2.1% in Maltese employment from 2020 to 2035, compared with just 0.3–0.4% for the EU-27 as a whole.

Total population is expected to grow by 27% by 2035—slightly less than the 34% rise seen over 2005–2020—while the labour force itself will surge by 40% over 2020–35, versus only 10% across the EU-27. This expansion is driven chiefly by rising participation: overall rates are set to climb by 6 percentage points, outpacing the 4-point gain projected for the EU. The report highlights especially strong upticks in the 20–24 and 60–64 age brackets—each gaining around 10–11 points of participation.

Women’s participation is forecast to jump by 9 points—three times the 3-point increase expected for men—narrowing Malta’s persistent gender gap in employment. In practice, thousands of women aged 20–24 through 60–64 will be entering or rejoining the workforce in unprecedented numbers.

Sectoral demand will concentrate in just a handful of areas. Non-marketed services—public health, elder care and education—will lead growth at just over 3% per year, reflecting the demands of an ageing society. Distribution & transport follows at around 2.2% per year, as retail, wholesale, warehousing, postal services and air transport expand. Even utilities and primary industries are forecast to add jobs at 1.7–1.8% annually.

The greatest volume of openings will be for service workers and shop and market sales staff (22% of all new jobs), professionals (19%) and technicians/associate professionals (18%). Within these groups, personal care aides and market-research and engineering-support roles will see especially strong demand, as Malta diversifies beyond tourism and invests in health and infrastructure.

Meanwhile, craft and related trades workers, plant and machine operators, agricultural and fishery workers, and cleaners will see replacement demand—aging incumbents retiring—outstrip new job creation, resulting in flat or declining headcounts. Teaching professionals will benefit from the general expansion in education, but business and administration associate professionals may face headwinds from automation and sector consolidation.

Perhaps most eye-opening, by 2035 nearly half of all Maltese job openings will require medium-level qualifications, and over 50% will demand high-level credentials—while roles requiring only low qualifications will shrink to virtually zero. In Malta’s emerging economy, low-skill jobs are becoming relics of the past.

This skill-driven transformation will also reshape Malta’s demographic pressures. Slower growth in low-skill employment may temper the surge of inward migration often relied upon to fill those roles, offering a partial relief to concerns over overpopulation on the archipelago. However, the continued rise in overall workforce demand—especially in medium- and high-skill segments—means Malta will still depend on attracting talent from abroad. The challenge for policymakers will be to balance controlled immigration policies with targeted upskilling of local residents, ensuring that reliance on cheap third-country labour does not undermine wages or social cohesion, even as the island adapts to a higher-skill, knowledge-based economy.