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Paid Care Work in Malta

  1. In 2023, care workers made up almost one fifth of the total number of employed persons (19.8 per cent).
  2. The share of females in care jobs was three times as much as the share of males (32.7 and 10.9 per cent, respectively).
  3. On average, in 2023, females working in care occupations earned €7,622 less than their male counterparts.
  4. In 2023, care workers were more likely to engage in shift employment when compared to non-care workers, with a difference of 10.9 percentage points.
  5. More than half of the care workers attained a tertiary level of education, 24.9 percentage points higher when compared to the non-care workforce.
  6. Foreigners were particularly over-represented in assisting occupations, where almost half worked as Service and Sales Workers (48.8 per cent).
  7. In 2023, foreigners with a care job were earning an annual average gross salary of €27,586, €2,649 less than their Maltese counterparts.

Introduction

This release is based on the Labour Force Survey (LFS), a household survey used to monitor labour market trends across the European Union. The LFS is conducted according to Regulation (EU) 2019/1700, which establishes standardised rules for collecting and analysing data on individuals and households. It also follows Regulation (EU) 2020/257, which defines specific variables related to the labour force.

As the primary data source for identifying care work as employment, the LFS provides detailed insights into jobs and industries using internationally recognised classifications— ISCO-08 for occupations and NACE Rev. 2 for economic activities—making the data comparable internationally.

Care work is broadly defined as activities that address the physical, psychological, and emotional needs of both adults and children. This comprehensive concept acknowledges that care is needed throughout all life stages: “New-borns and young people…[and]…older persons [all] have physical, psychological, cognitive and emotional needs and require varying degrees of protection, care or support” (ILO, 2018).

The care workforce includes workers across various education levels, skill sets, sectors, and pay scales. It ranges from university professors, doctors and dentists to childcare workers and personal care workers. Care occupations span health, social, and education services, supported by other essential roles such as managers, technicians, and administrative staff. While these supporting roles are not classified as care workers, they are crucial to delivering care services. For this reason, this publication considers all occupations within the Human Health and Social Work Activities, and Education sectors as part of the care workforce. Domestic workers are also recognised as part of this essential workforce.

Unpaid Care Work

Care work can be either paid or unpaid. Unpaid care work includes providing care for others or managing household tasks without financial compensation. It can also involve assisting individuals outside one’s family or within institutions. A significant burden of unpaid care work can restrict a person’s ability to engage in paid employment or secure higher-quality job opportunities (ILO, 2018). According to LFS data, in 2023, 37.9 per cent of females who were not working attributed their situation to family responsibilities. This percentage was much lower for males (Table 1).

The unequal distribution of unpaid care work also affects the number of hours dedicated to paid employment. LFS data indicated that while the proportion of females in part-time work decreased from 28.5 per cent in 2014 to 18.6 per cent in 2023, it remained significantly higher than that of males, which stood at 7.1 per cent in 2023 (Table 2, Chart 1). Additionally, in the same year, almost two thirds of females were working on a part-time basis due to family or personal reasons, whereas only 28.4 per cent of males in part-time employment cited family commitments as the reason (Table 3).

Chart 1. Employed persons by sex and type of employment

In 2023, there were 47,161 fathers and 53,378 mothers with children aged 17 or younger. Children are defined as household members aged 17 years or younger who are dependent on parents or other adults within the household. Differences emerged in the labour market participation of fathers and mothers, particularly in employment rates and working hours. While 95.6 per cent of all fathers were employed, the share of mothers was 21.3 percentage points lower (74.3 per cent). As expected, the share of inactive mothers was 20.5 percentage points higher than the share of fathers (Chart 2, Table 4). 

Motherhood also influenced the type of employment. While 97.1 per cent of fathers worked full-time, the share was significantly lower for mothers, at 75.3 per cent. This difference was also reflected in working hours, with mothers averaging 35.9 hours per week—5.6 hours less than fathers. Variations were also seen in teleworking arrangements, with slightly more than one-third of employed mothers using telework, compared to 27.6 per cent of fathers. (Table 4 and Table 5).

Chart 2. Parents by labour status: 2023

Fathers

No Data Found

Full-time

97.1%

Hours per week

41.5 hours

Telework

27.6%

Mothers

No Data Found

Full-time

75.3%

Hours per week

35.9 hours

Telework

33.5%

Paid Care Work

Paid care work involves providing care services in exchange for compensation across various settings, including private homes (e.g. domestic workers), hospitals, nursing homes, schools, and other care institutions.

For the purpose of this publication, paid care work follows the ILO’s 2018 methodology (refer to Methodological note 4). It primarily involves direct, face-to-face services that assist the care recipient. Paid care work is divided into four categories:

    1. Care jobs in care sectors: Work in areas like education, health, and social work.
    2. Non-care jobs in care sectors: Support jobs in education, health, and social work.
    3. Care jobs in non-care sectors: Care-related work in other industries.
    4. Domestic workers: Care workers hired by households.

For further information please refer to Methodological Note 4.

Paid care jobs over the years: 2012-2023

LFS estimates indicated that care work made up one fifth of the total Maltese workforce. The share was stable over the years, from 19.7 per cent in 2012 to 19.8 per cent in 2023. In 2021, there was a slight increase in the share of care jobs to 21.4 per cent which may be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the years, a consistent gap of around 22 percentage points has been observed between males and females in care employment. The largest differences were recorded from 2020 until 2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic, where the gap between the shares of males and females in care jobs almost reached 25 percentage points (Table 6, Chart 3).

Chart 3. The share of care jobs out of the total work force: 2012-2023

No Data Found

The care workforce: 2023

In 2023, the care workforce stood at 59,895 persons or 19.8 per cent of the total employed population. The largest share of care jobs comprised care workers employed in the care sectors (69.8 per cent), whose occupations involved providing a face-to-face service that develops the human capabilities of the care recipient. This includes the work of doctors and nurses, early education, primary and secondary school teachers and assistants, therapists and personal care workers. 

More than 20 per cent of the care workforce was made up of non-care workers working in the care sectors (22.4 per cent). These workers contributed to the provision of care services and included administrative officers, cooks or cleaners. 

A further 4.3 per cent of the care workforce consisted of care workers employed in other settings such as nurses working in private households (Table 7, Chart 4).

Chart 4. Care workforce by sectors: 2023

No Data Found

The global care workforce is considered highly feminised (ILO, 2018). This is also evident in Malta, where the share of females in care jobs in 2023 was three times higher than that of males. In fact, LFS estimates indicated that in 2023, 10.9 per cent of males were employed in care jobs as opposed to 32.7 per cent of females (Table 7).

The care sectors: Education, and Human health and social care activities

The key economic activities in care employment include Education, and Human Health and Social Work Activities. The Education sector is predominantly female at 72.7 per cent of the care workforce in this field. Similarly, the Human Health and Social Work Activities sector is also female-dominated, with the proportion of females exceeding that of males by 27.3 percentage points. (Chart 5, Table 8).

Chart 5. Employment in care sectors by sex: 2023

No Data Found

Despite the fact that care jobs are female-dominated, they are more likely to occupy non decision-making positions. In this regard, during 2023, the share of males in senior positions outnumbered the share of females by 2.0 percentage points  (Table 9).  

Working conditions

Care work is extensive and varied, and in this respect care workers are a highly heterogeneous group. The characteristics and experiences of care workers vary depending on a range of factors: the type of work, the context in which it is carried out and the level of qualifications, among others.

On average, females in care jobs earned less than their male counterparts. In 2023, the discrepancy in the annual gross salary among males and females was much lower in non-care jobs, with males earning €30,774 and females earning €26,335, representing a difference of €4,438 (Chart 6, Table 10).

This gap in salaries can be partially explained by the higher proportion of males in Managerial and Professional positions compared to females. In 2023, 50.5 per cent of males in care jobs worked in these higher-paying roles, compared to 44.4 per cent of females. Within care work, occupational hierarchies exist, with Managerial and Professional roles typically offering better compensation than other positions, such as Service and Sales related jobs. These roles, which include healthcare aides and teacher assistants, generally provide lower pay. During 2023, females were nearly twice as likely as males to be employed in these lower-paying positions (37.7 per cent of females versus 19.1 per cent of males, Table 9). This disparity likely contributed to the significant difference in the average annual income between male and female care workers.

Chart 6. Average gross basic salary by sex in care and non-care workforce: 2023

No Data Found

Globally, care workers are often employed in non-standard forms of employment (NSFE) such as fixed-term work, temporary work, temporary agency work, dependent self-employment and part-time work (ILO, 2018). In Malta, this trend was reflected in 2023, with 11.3 per cent of the care workforce employed on a definite contract, 3.8 percentage points higher than the 7.5 per cent recorded among non-care workers.

Atypical working conditions, including evening or night shifts, weekend work, and rotating shifts, are more prevalent in care-related jobs.  In this regard, in 2023, a higher proportion of care workers worked night shifts between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. compared to non-care workers (22.2 and 16.0 per cent). Similarly, the share of care workers who worked on Sundays was 3.8 percentage points higher when compared to non-care workers. No significant differences were observed in the share of care and non-care workers working weekdays between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m (26.3 and 26.9 per cent). Tied to the atypical working conditions is the prevalence of shift work among care related jobs with 30.1 per cent of the care workforce having shift work arrangements. Meanwhile, due to the nature of their work, care professions had less access to telework when compared to non-care workers (18.2 and 28.1 per cent, respectively) (Table 11).

Educational attainmnent among the care workforce

In 2023, over half of care workers had attained a tertiary level of education, exceeding the rate in the non-care workforce by 24.9 percentage points. This trend was consistent across sexes, with 57.2 per cent of male care workers and 54.2 per cent of female care workers achieving this level of education. However, the proportion of males with tertiary education was 3.0 percentage points higher than that of females within the care workforce. In contrast, the non-care workforce showed the opposite trend, with a 10.9 percentage point higher share of females holding tertiary qualifications compared to males. (Chart 7, Table 12).

Chart 7. Distribution of care and non-care workers by highest level of education and sex: 2023

Males

Females

The care workforce by nationality

In 2023, migrants made up 35.7 per cent of the total number of employed persons. Within the care sphere however, migrants accounted for 15.5 per cent.  This share was 6.6 percentage points lower than the proportion of Maltese workers working in the care sector (Table 13).  When looking into the more specific activities which comprise the care sector, one notes however that Maltese are workers were almost evenly split between the Education sector (50.1 per cent) and Human health and social work activities (45.0 per cent). Conversely, nearly two-thirds of migrant care workers were employed in Human health and social work activities (Chart 8, Table 14).

In terms of the distribution of jobs among Maltese and migrant workers, data revealed that migrants were heavily concentrated in assisting roles, with nearly half (48.8 per cent) employed as Service and Sales Workers. In contrast, most Maltese workers in care occupations were Professionals, comprising 47.4 per cent of this group (Table 14).

Chart 8. Employment in care sectors by citizenship: 2023

No Data Found

Differences were evident in the types of care jobs held by Maltese and foreign workers. Nearly half of foreign care workers (48.2 per cent) were employed on a shift basis, as against 23.1 per cent of Maltese workers in the same sector (Table 14). On average, migrants in care jobs worked 40.0 hours per week, that is 3.2 hours more than their Maltese counterparts (Table 15). 

These disparities were also reflected in income. In 2023, foreign care workers earned an average annual gross salary of €26,474, €4,777 less than Maltese care workers. The gap was much lower in non-care jobs (€2,649), where Maltese and migrant workers earned €30,235 and  €27,586, respectively (Table 16). 

Conclusion

This publication provided a comprehensive overview of Malta’s care workforce, examining various demographic and employment characteristics of the persons engaged in this sphere of work.  The data was sourced from the Annual Labour Force Survey (LFS), with most estimates derived from the 2023 LFS, complemented by datasets spanning from 2012 to 2022.

Table 1. Main reasons for being inactive by sex: 2023
Table 2. Distribution of employed persons by sex and type of employment in the main occupation
Table 3. Reason for part-time work by sex
Table 4. Employment characteristics for fathers and mothers: 2023
Table 5. Normal hours worked per week for fathers and mothers: 2023
Table 6. The share of care jobs out of the total workforce by sex: 2012-2023
Table 7. Care workers by type of care and sex: 2023
Table 8. Distribution of persons employed in care jobs by sex and economic activity in the main occupation: 2023
Table 9. Distribution of care workers by occupational group and sex: 2023
Table 10. Average annual gross salary for employees by care and non-care workers and sex: 2023
Table 11. Employment characteristics of care and non-care workers: 2023
Table 12. Distribution of care and non-care workers by highest level of education and sex: 2023
Table 13. Distribution of care and non-care workers by citizenship and sex: 2023
Table 14. Distribution of care workers by employment characteristics and citizenship: 2023
Table 15. Normal hours worked per week in care jobs by citizenship: 2023
Table 16. Average annual gross salary for employees by care and non-care workers and citizenship: 2023

All Tables

1. The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is carried out on an ongoing basis using a quarterly gross sample of 3,200 private households. The objective is to have a continuous assessment of labour market trends given that the reference weeks are evenly spread throughout the 13 weeks of the quarter. One-fourth of the sample is made up of households who have been selected to participate in the LFS for the first time. Three-fourths of the quarterly sample is made up of households who were selected to participate in the survey in previous instances, either one quarter before, or one year before, or one year and a quarter before (2-(2)-2). Unless otherwise indicated, figures provided in this release refer to persons aged 15 and over and living in private households during the reference period. All criteria used for this survey match international methodologies used by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

2. The LFS is designed to satisfy the concepts and definitions as outlined by Eurostat, which is the EU Statistical Agency. This allows the comparability of results with other EU Member States and countries following ILO definitions of employment and unemployment. Occupations are classified according to the ISCO – 08 classification (International Standard Classification of Occupations), whereas the economic activity is classified according to NACE Rev. 2 (Nomenclature statistique des activités économiques dans la Communauté européenne). Educational attainment is classified according to ISCED 2011 (International Standard Classification of Education).

3. As from January 2021, Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 establishing a common framework for European statistics relating to persons and households, based on data at individual level collected from samples and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/257 of 16th December 2019 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council by specifying the number and the title of the variables for the labour force domain, came into force.

4. For the purpose of this publication, ‘paid care work’ was identified using the same methodology applied in the ILO Report ‘Care Work and Care Jobs for the future of Decent work’ (ILO, 2018, p. 412-413). The combination of care occupations, care sectors and households as employers makes it possible to identify the care workforce and group them in four categories:

1. Care workers employed in care sectors
     – Workers in NACE 85, 86, 87, 88 who are also in ISCO 22, 23, 32, 53 (core care occupations)
     – Workers in NACE 85, 86, 87, 88 who are also in ISCO 13
     – Workers in NACE 85, 86, 87, 88 who are also in ISCO 26 and 34

2. Domestic workers (employed by households)
     – All workers in NACE 97

3. Care workers employed in non-care sectors
     – All other workers in ISCO 22 except for those working in NACE 75 Veterinary activities
     – All other workers in ISCO 23
     – All other workers in ISCO 32 except for those working in NACE 75 Veterinary activities
     – All other workers in ISCO 53

4. Non-care workers employed in care sectors
     – Workers in NACE 85, 86, 87, 88 who are not in ISCO 22, 23, 32, 53, 26, 34 and 13

5. Definitions:

● Atypical working conditions: include evening or night work, Saturday or Sunday working and shift work.

● Average annual gross salary: refers to the monetary component of the remuneration of employees in cash payable by an employer to an employee before deduction of income tax and national insurance contributions. It includes regular overtime, extra compensation for shift work, seniority bonuses, regular travel allowances and per diem allowances, tips and commission and compensation for meals in cash. Fringe benefits and income from investment-assets, stocks and shares are excluded.

● Care jobs: refer to Methodological Note 4.

● Children: are defined as household members aged 17 years or less and are dependent on other household members (parents/adults).

● Father: is identified as a male parent of at least one dependent child aged between 0 and 17 years living in the same household. It also includes fathers of biological children, adoptive children and stepchildren.

● Educational Attainment: 

– secondary or less level of education: comprising persons with no schooling, primary education, schools for children with special needs and persons who attained a secondary level education and have less than 2 ordinary level qualifications or equivalent. In the context of the ISCED classification, this includes ISCED 0 to 2.
– post-secondary level of education: comprising persons with a secondary level education and having 2 ordinary level qualifications or equivalent or more, and persons with a post-secondary level attainment who have obtained at least 1 intermediate or advanced level qualification or equivalent. In the context of the ISCED classification, this refers to ISCED 3 and 4.
– tertiary level of education: comprising persons with a tertiary level education and with qualifications ranging from diploma to doctorate level. In the context of the ISCED classification, this refers to ISCED 5 to 8.

● Employed persons: comprise persons aged 15 to 89 who, during the reference week, were in one of the following categories:     

– worked for at least 1 hour for pay or profit, including contributing family workers and paid casual work
– persons with a job or business who were temporarily not at work during the reference week but had an attachment to their job, including:

(a) persons not at work due to holidays, working time arrangements, sick leave, maternity or paternity leave;
(b) persons in job-related training or formal education;
(c) persons on parental leave, either receiving and/or being entitled to job-related income or benefits, or whose parental leave is expected to be 3 months or less;
(d) seasonal workers during the off-season, where they continue to regularly perform tasks and duties for the job or business, excluding fulfilment of legal or administrative obligations;
(e) persons temporarily not at work for other reasons where the expected duration of the absence is 3 months or less.

● Inactive persons: all persons who are not classified as employed or unemployed are defined as inactive.

● Mother: is identified as a female parent of at least one dependent child aged between 0 and 17 years living in the same household. It also includes mothers of biological children, adoptive children and stepchildren.

● Non-day work: includes those persons who usually work in the evening between 8pm and 11pm or at night between 11pm and 5am.

● Part-time employment: a part-time worker is an employed person whose normal hours are less than those of comparable full-time workers. Persons employed on a full-time with reduced hours basis are included in this category.

● Shift workers: comprises all employees who work at least 2 out of the 4 atypical working conditions i.e., either non-day work or weekend work.

● Telework: refers to persons who carry out productive work related to their main job from home.

● Type of employment: grouped into full-time employment and part-time employment. For the purpose of this release part-time employment is made up of full-time with reduced hours jobs and part-time jobs.

● Fixed-term contracts: refers to all those persons working with a definite contract or on a temporary basis.

● Weekend work: includes those persons who usually work on Saturdays or Sundays or both.

6. Key

: Unreliable – less than 20 sample observations.
U Under represented – between 20 and 49 sample observations.

7. Percentage totals may not add up due to rounding.

8. Absolute changes between one survey estimate and another must be treated with caution since minor changes (i.e. less than 2,100 persons) might be the result of sampling error.

9. For further information please submit a request through our online form. 

10. More information relating to this news release may be accessed at:

Sources and Methods
Statistical Concepts 
Metadata 
Classifications:
ISCO 2008 
NACE Rev2
ISCED 2011 

11. References to this news release are to be cited appropriately.

12. A detailed news release calendar is available online. 

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