THE Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Malaysia (Samenta) has urged the government to convene a task force to address disruptions to the job market and plan for the future of work.

Chairman William Ng said the job market had been severely disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic and new technologies.

He said, while the country’s unemployment rate is 3.5%, it does not take underemployment or mismatches in qualifications and jobs into account.

“Employers, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), are finding it difficult to hire qualified employees with the right skillsets, and have to settle for whatever is the next best.

“This severely impacts productivity growth and forces employers to retrain at considerable cost,” he said in a statement today, adding that Emir Research recently stated that underemployment is now “structural”.

The World Economic Forum said that, by 2025, more than half of all workers must be reskilled, Ng said.

He urged the situation to be addressed urgently to solve disruptions to the job market and map out the availability of a trained workforce to support the growth of industries, provide meaningful high-value jobs and help businesses, especially SMEs, upgrade their workforce and their digital capabilities.

At the same time, he said the current piecemeal and reactive approach is dangerous and regressive, with the result of an increasing disconnect between policymakers and the industry in such areas as minimum wages, labour laws, social security coverage, employee benefits and more.

“A high-level, industry-led future of work task force is long overdue, and must include government agencies and industry, including SMEs, to address this gap and prepare workers for a changed workplace,” he added. – Bernama, May 1, 2023.