ALOR STAR: Kulim Hi-Tech Park (KHTP), the heart of Kedah's advanced manufacturing sector, requires 24,000 skilled workers until 2025.
State Industry and Investment, Science, Technology and Innovation and Higher Education, Datuk Dr Ku Abd Rahman Ku Ismail said the projection was based on high investment inflow to Kedah.
To ensure a consistent supply of skilled local workforce to fill up the vacancies, Ku Rahman (Perikatan Nasional-Guar Chempedak) said the state government had organised campaigns to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) among school children.
"We are facing a challenge to encourage our children to take up science, especially pure science since we need many engineers in various fields.
"We need to nurture the interest for STEM subjects among children from the primary school because in order to become a developed and high-tech nation, we have to encourage our children to study engineering," he said in response to a supplementary question from Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir (Pejuang-Jitra) who asked about the state government's plans to ensure sufficient skilled workers supply for high-tech industry in Kedah.
Ku Rahman also informed the House that over 80 per cent of jobs in the state's manufacturing sector were filled up by local talents.
"In 2020, data showed that 86.1 per cent of 7,813 job opportunities will be filled by Kedahans while in 2021, 91.7 per cent of 11,303 job opportunities will be filled by the local workforce.
"As for last year, 90 per cent of Kedahans filled 3,158 job vacancies from January to September," he said.
Ku Rahman added that the people of Kedah also benefited immensely from KHTP with 82 per cent of the total workforce being local talents.
"At KHTP, 82 per cent of the workers there are Kedahans as it is the same practice for investors and employers in other industrial parks, including Minebea company in Sungai Petani which employed 82 per cent local workers.
"Our focus now is to produce more Kedahans as talents to fill up the middle and upper positions in the manufacturing sector, including engineers in various fields," he said.