THE “JaminKerja Keluarga Malaysia” initiative supports the goal of reducing the country’s unemployment rate with the creation of 600,000 job opportunities this year with an allocation of RM4.8 billion, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said today.

“The JaminKerja Keluarga Malaysia is a manifestation of the government’s commitment in providing more comprehensive employment opportunities and producing more sustainable economic development as well as driving the country’s recovery efforts in a structured manner and contributing towards strengthening the country’s labour market,” he said.

He said this at the launch of the JaminKerja Keluarga Malaysia Career Carnival 2022 in the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) today.

Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz and Human Resources Minister M. Saravanan were also present.

The prime minister said JaminKerja Keluarga Malaysia consists of three main programmes, namely, the JaminKerja Incentive Employment, to be implemented by the Social Security Organisation (Socso), which targets 300,000 job opportunities.

In addition, the Malaysia Short-term Employment Programme (MyStep) offers 80,000 job opportunities in the public sector, government-linked companies (GLCs) and strategic partners.

Meanwhile, the third programme, training and upskilling (Upskill Malaysia), implemented by HRD Corp, will provide skills training for jobseekers to increase their marketability as well as guarantee job placement with a target of 220,000 trainees.

In the meantime, he said, the JaminKerja employment incentive will focus on efforts to encourage employers to recruit new employees, especially among the unemployed, vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities, ex-soldiers, ex-prisoners, senior citizens, and women, for extended periods, to ensure no group is marginalised.

He said once employers were given incentives for hiring, jobseekers can use the MyFutureJobs portal to get job matches and fill vacancies offered.

“Incentives will also be given to employers who hire local workers for positions usually filled by foreign workers or expatriates,” he said.

Ismail said eligible employers would receive government financial assistance of between 20 and 40% of the employee’s maximum gross salary, or RM10,000 for a period of 12 months.

For the MyStep programme, he said, it was targeting 80,000 contract job opportunities covering 50,000 posts in the public sector and the rest in GLCs this year.

With an allocation of RM1.7 billion, MyStep will be led by the Economic Stimulus Implementation and Coordination Unit Between National Agencies (Laksana), under the Finance Ministry, which will implement strategic collaborations with other government agencies.

At the same time, the prime minister said, the Human Resources Ministry will hold 312 open interview programmes and job carnivals throughout the year.

“This JaminKerja Keluarga Malaysia Career Carnival is the opener for 2022 and the first to be organised, offering more than 12,000 job opportunities from 50 employers from various industries.

Meanwhile, Ismail said the government remains committed to helping more Malaysian families who faced different challenges to land jobs.

To reduce the skills mismatch, he called on the industry to implement better recruitment strategies by taking into account social changes, including a more flexible work environment so that better matches can be created.

He said employers also need to be more creative in offering good jobs to employees so they stay with the companies.

The prime minister also said Malaysia is on the right track in its economic recovery efforts through the creation of more new jobs to meet the current needs of the labour market.

“As chairman of the National Employment Council (NEC), I am confident that NEC’s efforts in increasing the momentum of job creation and boosting the job market will be continued through this initiative, further strengthening the income of Malaysian families, especially the asnaf, B40 and M40 groups,” he said.

The prime minister also called on employers, including government agencies, GLCs, and the private sector to take advantage of the opportunities and incentives provided under the JaminKerja Keluarga Malaysia initiative, as it will be of great benefit to both employers and jobseekers. – Bernama, February 19, 2022.