KUALA LUMPUR: The government aims to reduce Malaysia's youth unemployment rate to a single digit from a record 10.8 per cent last year.
Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said it will come up with proper planning at all levels to achieve the target.
"Job opportunities are very important and there should be a joint effort with all other ministries to ensure that this unemployment issue can be handled well.
"This is because one of the things that we want to do is to reduce the unemployment rate to a single digit.
"If you look at other countries, they can do it and we should also be able to implement it better in terms of creating more quality jobs for young people," he said after officiating Securities Commission's (SC) InvestSmart Fest 2018.
Last year, the youth unemployment rate hit a record 10.8 per cent.This was mainly contributed by graduate unemployment which increased to 9.6 per cent or about 204,000.
This constituted 40.5 per cent of total unemployment.
High-skill job vacancies which were more suited to fresh graduates, such as professional and technicians and associate professionals, only accounted for 4.1 per cent of total job vacancies last year.
Low-skill jobs on the other hand made up a total of 86.3 per cent of job vacancies.
InvestSmart® Fest 2018, an investor education initiative by the SC held from today until October 14 is aimed at promoting awareness and knowledge on the Malaysian capital market.
Themed "Investing for a Sustainable Future", the event is showcasing 45 participating organisations comprising capital market intermediaries, regulatory and other agencies under one roof.
Bursa Malaysia Bhd is the exclusive partner for this year’s event.
Other sponsors include Permodalan Nasional Bhd and the Federation of Investment Managers Malaysia.
In conjunction with InvestSmart® Fest this year, the SC has also introduced an educational game ‘JumpZInvest' which can be downloaded via Google Play and Apple Store.
The game will impart basic capital market knowledge to players while they build their portfolio of investments in the game.