Malaysia’s government has proposed to exempt tax on income received from year of assessment 2023 to 2028 to encourage more women to return to work after a career break. Tabling the 2023 Budget in Parliament Friday, Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said, to empower women’s role at the corporate leadership level, the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) will introduce a special training program to enhance their s kills. The government will also identify and subsequently increase the number of women who are qualified to be appointed as Board of Directors’ (BOD) members. As of October 2022, women constituted 29 per cent of the composition of the BOD for 100 major public-listed companies.
Tengku Zafrul also proposed that the government bear 80 percent of Social Security contributions for gig economy workers. He said, aside from those involved in food delivery and ehailing, farmers, fishermen, artists under Finas and hawkers will also benefit from this initiative. The government will also be making Socso’s Self-Employed Social Security Scheme contributions mandatory for all self-employed sectors in stages, he added.
Meanwhile, to encourage marginalized groups such as OKUs, ex-convicts, Orang Asli and women to rejoin the workforce, the government has set aside RM150mil as an employment incentive. Those eligible to receive the incentive will each receive between RM600 and RM700 a month for three months.
Job hunters from Sabah and Sarawak will also receive a one-off RM1,000 mobility assistance payment to help them secure jobs in Peninsular Malaysia. Those from the peninsula looking for jobs in Sabah and Sarawak will also receive the assistance.
