NEARLY 90,000 cases of job loss have been registered with the Social Security Organisation (Socso) so far this year, reported FMT.

Socso CEO Mohammed Azman Aziz said 89,596 cases of loss of employment, an average of 10,000 cases per month, were logged as of October 22.

“This represents an increase of 278% compared to 2019,” he said. 

“If the trend continues, loss of employment is estimated to surpass 100,000 cases by the end of 2020.

‘We observed that the figures started to increase in May, when the government implemented the conditional movement control order (CMCO), and spiked in July when the recovery MCO commenced. The trend started to stabilise in mid-July.”

The manufacturing sector accounted for 23% of the job losses, with 20,492 cases, followed by hospitality and food and beverage with 13,053 cases (15%), and retail with 12,450 cases (14%).

Most of the job losses occurred in the Klang Valley, with 27,619 cases in Selangor and 23,882 in Kuala Lumpur.

Penang came in third-highest with 9,489 cases.

“In terms of occupation, the professional category is the most affected with 23,022 cases (26%), followed by technician jobs at 17,240 (19%) and managerial positions at 11,762 (13%),” Azman said.

Azman said the third wave of Covid-19 has led to uncertainty in the labour market.

He projected the unemployment rate to range from 4-4.5% at the year-end and early 2021.

He said the current unemployment  rate of 4.7% showed labour force participation rate had slowly improved from the second quarter.

Azman attributed the improvement to active government intervention through programmes such as the Prihatin, Penjana and Kita Prihatin aid packages.

Via Socso, the government has sought to lower unemployment with recruitment incentive and wage subsidy schemes.

“The unemployment rate can be further reduced if new graduates and school-leavers entering the labour market this year take part in reskilling and upskilling programmes.” – October 29, 2020.