A TOTAL of 150,597 job seekers have succeeded in obtaining employment through 12 programmes implemented as at April 23, said Muhyiddin Yassin.

The prime minister said the success exceeded the cumulative projection as at last month and the government is targeting to create 500,000 job opportunities for this year.

“The government’s efforts in raising investments in the country have succeeded in creating 33,907 new jobs and 76% of them are in the skilled and semi-skilled categories,” he said in a Facebook post today.

“This is part of the target of 160,000 new jobs from the commitment of investments for 2021.”

In the message, Muhyiddin said he chaired the third meeting of the National Employment Council (NEC) today held via video conferencing.

In the meeting, the prime minister was informed of the details of the Employment Retention and Generation initiatives under the Economic Recovery Plan.

“The meeting was also told of the issues and challenges of employment in the informal sector,” he said. 

“From the findings of 6,202 engagement programmes conducted, the number of self-employed, including gig workers, who received social protection from Socso rose from 71,000 in 2019 to 81,000 last year, and the latest shows 142,000 (2021).” 

Muhyiddin said Grab Malaysia has tabled a strategy to empower the domestic economy through digitalisation with four pilot programmes proposed, capable of providing more than 35,000 opportunities to generate income in e-hailing for persons with disabilities (PwD), wet-market traders and the food and beverage industry.

He said in recognition of the difficulties of PwPs and vulnerable groups in gaining access to income-generating opportunities, NEC has asked the Transport Ministry, Women, Family and Community Development Ministry and local authorities to study the mechanism, including legal provisions, to ensure the initiatives are carried out soon.

“The meeting also announced that the UP Career Programme launched on April 12, especially for the urban poor and hardcore poor, has succeeded in assisting 489 applicants in obtaining employment immediately,” he said.

“In this regard, the council agreed to expand the programme more aggressively with a wider target to assist the socio-economy of the group to help them get out of poverty.”

Muhyiddin said to boost the composition of NEC, three more permanent members representing the finance, entrepreneurship and innovation sectors were appointed, namely member of Maybank Investment Bank Bhd board of director Sharifah Sofianny Syed Hussain, Persatuan Wanita Bumiputera Dalam Perniagaan Profesion Malaysia president Azlin Ahmad Shaharbi and GoGet co-founder Francesca Chia.

He added that the ministries and agencies will continue to give attention and priority to matters on employment initiatives.

“I would like to emphasise that NEC is a KPI (key performance indicator)-driven initiative. There should be a sense of urgency on this matter and there should be no delays as our primary focus this year is to provide employment opportunities and generate income for the people,” he said. – Bernama, May 7, 2021.