THE Social Security Organisation (Socso) has so far paid RM103 million to almost 30,000 workers who had lost their jobs through the Employment Insurance Scheme (EIS), said Human Resource Minister M. Saravanan.

He said most of the recipients were from the manufacturing sector.

“As of the end of May, Socso has paid RM103 million to close to 30,000 workers who lost their jobs.

“Workers from the manufacturing sector were the most who received the compensation,” he told reporters today in a press conference after the Socso board of director’s appointment ceremony at Menara Perkeso in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur today.

Saravanan said the hospitality and tourism sector also faced big challenges during the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent movement control order (MCO).

He said reskilling and up-skilling efforts were being made for those who lost their jobs, so that they could move to other fields.

“We have introduced various initiatives. In terms of hospitality and tourism, we prefer to re-skill or up-skill them so that they can switch to other fields, or they can still remain in the same sector.

“It will take time for these two sectors to recover,” he said. – June 15, 2020.