KUALA TERENGGANU: The country’s 6.6 million workers will feel more secure, should they loose their jobs, once the Employment Insurance Scheme is implemented soon.
These Social Security Organisation (Socso) contributors will have better avenues to help them out if they are retrenched or laid off with the EIS.
Terengganu Socso director Nora Yaacob said that the EIS was expected to generate RM480 million a year nationwide, through collection of 0.2 per cent of the monthly salary as premium, from eligible employers and workers.
“This means that both the employers and workers must contribute to the EIS, once it’s officially implemented next year.
“The EIS, however, does not cover those who resign on their own accord, retire, are on contract, are sacked for indiscipline or who are self-eomployed ,” she said.
It is learnt that a total of 44,344 workers lost their jobs in 2015 and 39,699 last year, with an estimated 50,000 expected to be laid off by the end of this year.
She said there were about 430,000 employers who employed 6.6 million eligible workers nationwide, who are mainly non-governmental staff and who make monthly Socso contributions.
“Of this number, Terengganu has 8,800 employers who have hired 110,000 workers eligible for EIS,” she said at Socso’s ‘EIS Roadshow’ for employers and workers at the Duyong Marina and Resort Terengganu.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had during his Budget 2018 presentation in October, stated that EIS was intended to offer retrenched workers with an interim financial assistance and look for new jobs.
Additionally, WIS will offer vocational training, job placement, counseling and various dependency allowances of about RM600 monthly for three months,
Nora warned that employers who did not respect the EIS could face a fine of RM10,000 or two years jail upon conviction.
She added that a system similar to the EIS had long been implemented in countries like South Korea and Canada.
On another note, Nora said Socso had paid out over RM12 million in various benefits for 13,818 contributors in Terengganu, for the first ten months this year.
For last year, 12,951 workers received more than RM11 million in benefits, she said.