At Malaysia’s recent Budget 2022 announcement, creating new job opportunities will be at the forefront of the nation’s recovery strategy. The onset of Covid-19 has severely impacted the lives of Malaysians. In May 2020, the national unemployment rate rose to 5.3 percent. While that number has been reduced to 4.6 percent by August 2021, up to 750,000 Malaysian job seekers remain unemployed.
Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz announced that the government under the Jamin Kerja Keluarga Malaysia initiative (JaminKerja), will be guaranteeing up to 600,000 job opportunities with the allocation of RM4.8 billion in the coming year.
It was also mentioned that the the government via SOSCO will will continue with the hiring incentive under the JaminKerja initiative, targeting 300,000 people and an allocation of RM2 billion.
The government will also be presenting an incentive of up to 20 percent in wage subsidies to employers who are hiring Malaysians that have not been actively employed. Said subsidy will cover the monthly salary of those hired for the six months. Following the first six months, an additional 30 percent wage subsidy will be provided for an additional six months for jobs with a salary of RM1500 and above.
In addition to this, to encourage employers to provide employment opportunities for targeted groups like the disabled, Orang Asli and ex-convicts, the Government will provide an incentive of 30 percent of the monthly salary for the first six months and 40 percent for the next six months for hiring from this category subject to jobs with a salary of RM1200 and above.
The Budget also seeks to encourage women to return to the workforce. In order to achieve this, the incentive is also extended to employers who employ women who have been unemployed for more than 365 days, single mothers and housewives.
The Malaysia Short-term Employment Programmes or MySTEP initiative will also be continued in 2022 by offering 80,000 contract employment opportunities covering 50,000 jobs within the public sector and 30,000 jobs within Government-Linked Companies from January 2022. Budget 2022 will also be targeting up to 220,000 trainees to undergo various upskilling and reskilling programmes with a total allocation of RM1.1 billion.
