‘BETTER SKILLS, HIGHER WAGES’
Right skills will enable workers to earn 20pc higher pay, says minister
HUMAN Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran has urged Malaysian workers to improve themselves by attending skills training courses.
Having the right skills could earn them 20 per cent higher pay, said Kulasegaran.
He said that anyone who can read and write is eligible to attend skills training courses at any
Technical Vocational Educational Training (TVET) institute in the country.
“Most of the TVET institutes teach basic skills. You don’t really need an academic qualification,” he said during a get-together session with the Malaysian diaspora here.
The minister is here to lead the Malaysian delegation to the Special Session of the Asean Labour Ministers and Singapore Conference on the Future of Work.
“We are trying to focus 70 per cent on training and 30 per cent on course work,” he said, noting that only 28 per cent of the total workforce in Malaysia was skilled whereas in countries such as Singapore, the percentage may be as high as 50 per cent.
“That doesn’t speak well. No country can be developed unless a substantial part of the workforce is skilled. These are the challenges that we face and hope to achieve over time,” he said.
Under the 11th Malaysia Plan, which ends next year, the target is to get 35 per cent skilled workforce, he added.
“We might not reach the magical figure (35 per cent) but we will try to fast-track the matter and give priority to it.”
The minister added that some employers were reluctant to send their workers for training for fear of losing them or because they were not prepared to give them unrecorded leave.
The workers, on their part, don’t realise why they should go for skills training, Kulasegaran added.