KUALA LUMPUR: Up to 44,940 unemployed Malaysians have found jobs through the Re-employment Placement Programme and the MYFutureJobs portal, the Dewan Rakyat heard today.
Deputy Human Resources Minister Awang Hashim said 95,161 applications were submitted to the portal, comprising job-seekers aged between 20 and 29, including university graduates and school-leavers.
"The ministry also organised Socso Karnival Penjana on Oct 30, which saw 229 programmes held with the participation of 541 employers. A total of 4,060 graduates and other job seekers have been hired through this.
"The government also conducts engagement sessions with private employers to address the issue of unemployment, especially in light of the (Covid-19) pandemic, while instructing them not to retrench their workers so easily," he said in reply to a question from Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PH-Pandan).
Other initiatives, he said, include a structured internship programme, the Scholarship Talent Attraction & Retention (STAR) initiative, and the hiring incentive programme MyApprentice, as well as upskilling and reskilling training programmes.
"We also assist job seekers by looking at vacancies (in government agencies) by liaising with the SPA (Public Services Commission) and JPA (Public Services Department) to place the unemployed. There are some 500,000 job opportunities available for those affected by the pandemic."
Awang said the government is also taking necessary steps to create new jobs in the information technology (IT) sector, among others, following recent reports by the World Economic Forum (WEF), which outlined 10 sectors that would see job declines due to the pandemic.
According to the report, the jobs include data entry, accounting, book-keeping, payroll, administration, factory work, business services and administration, management and auditing.
"The government needs to be ready for this. We are looking at the creation of new jobs that will replace these jobs. Among them are digital transformation specialists and information technology services," he said in reply to a supplementary question from Dr Wan Azizah.
The Social Security Organisation (Socso) reported that 90,470 people have lost their jobs as of Oct 28, based on data recorded by its Employment Insurance System (EIS).