Addressing the troubling issue of unemployment which has been on the rise impacted by Covid-19, Prime Minister who chairs the National Employment Council will be focusing on creating 500,000 jobs as its first task.
Its reported that the number of those unemployed this year has increased to 700,000 or 5.6 per cent compared to only three per cent the previous year, prompting the Government to quickly set up NEC to look into the worrying matter.
“The number of those unemployed has risen, those running businesses had to close shop and suffer losses as the people have no income. Also, due to this, some had to lay off workers or stop hiring new ones.
“And this is why the government set up an employment council with the aim of ensuring the country’s economy continues to be more organised and to find ways to help the people, who are now mostly unemployed and have no income,” he said.
Despite the target being high, the government had outlined various proactive measures, including offering tax incentives to attract foreign investors.
“It is now rather difficult to find investors even though Malaysia prior to this had been the country of choice because we have good infrastructure facilities, a large workforce, highways, industrial sites and proper utilities.
Malaysia will have to act fast and hard if it is to attract foreign investors at this period, company’s are being lured by many nations with incentives and candies with the hopes of kick starting their economy. Losing these opportunities will severely impact employment for locals as to which the government wants to avoid.
The Human Resources Ministry has been tasked to utilise the RM2 billion fund provided efficiently to train more young people, especially skills training. Companies and individuals are encouraged to take part in the program and look at ways to equip themselves with relevant job skills inline with market demand.
