THE Social Security Organisation (Socso), through the Employment Insurance System (EIS), is actively monitoring retrenchment or loss of employment cases nationwide in all sectors.

As of April 22, EIS had recorded 205,342 applications from employers under the Wage Subsidy Programme (WSP) to stabilise the employment of 1.67 million workers, while more than 25,411 employers applied for the Employment Retention Programme (ERP) covering 208,907 workers on unpaid leave.

These initiatives, Socso said, are aimed at stabilising employment, avoiding massive retrenchment and safeguarding jobs, hence, enabling workers, especially in the B40 group, to put food on the table.

“Even though there is a spike in EIS benefits’ claims, the number of workers losing their jobs is still manageable, where the loss of employment figures is still below 6,000 workers per month.

“Nevertheless, we are monitoring the situation closely on a daily basis and advising the government of any unexpected increase,” it said in a statement today.

As for post-Covid-19 initiatives, Socso said the Human Resources Ministry is in the process of reforming and strengthening the Malaysian Public Employment Services, including by introducing various active labour market policies and programmes, promoting job creation, as well as ensuring the workforce is equipped with current skills and competencies to meet changes in the labour market landscape.

Besides that, it said, there is also a need to review existing law, particularly to widen the scope of coverage of the EIS and income protection for the most vulnerable segment of society – the self-employed in the informal sector. – Bernama, April 25, 2020.