A National Employment Council, chaired by the prime minister, is being set up to focus on efforts to create nearly 500,000 new job opportunities as well as tackle unemployment, said Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin in a recent address.
He added that the council will be engaging with the private sector as well as skilled groups and businesses to assist the government and provide views and insight on the steps needed to achieve the council’s goals.
“This is a step forward so that we can manage the problem of unemployment, including unemployed graduates, and those who we can retrain so that they are provided with suitable jobs,” said Muhyiddin.
The Cabinet decided to form the National Employment Council because other efforts in the government had worked “in silo” with many committees formed “but they do not provide measures to generate new jobs”.
Muhyiddin said reskilling and upskilling training for some unemployed groups are ongoing currently to enable them to adapt to jobs that will be generated through new economic activities.
The formation of the council was announced at the recent Budget 2021 speech. The council will coordinate efforts across ministries and government agencies.
The prime minister also mentioned that investors will have something to look forwards to, as various incentives are also being provided to them for at least two years as part of the government’s efforts to create more employment opportunities.
“Not only has the B40 group grown larger, the M40 group is also shrinking in numbers from the loss of jobs. This situation requires us to provide employment opportunities, manage the situation so that no Malaysian workers are laid-off, and that is why wage subsidy assistance is given to help companies face this difficult situation,” he said.
