8,300 jobs offered at career carnival

PUTRAJAYA: Going by the success of the recent virtual Penjana Youth Career Carnival, the job market seems to have shown a marginal rebound.

A total of 13,246 youths took part in the three-day carnival from Nov 24, but more heartening is the news that more than 8,300 vacancies were offered by the 26 employers that made use of the platform to recruit staff.

Human Resource Minister Datuk M. Saravanan said 65 candidates were offered jobs instantly when they succeeded in the virtual open interviews while 320 candidates managed to enter the second round of interviews.

He said besides the open interviews, other activities included five career webinars by employer representatives and professionals, focusing on current job opportunities, career preparation and employability, which garnered more than 3,300 participants.

“The virtual carnival aims to help unemployed Malaysian youth to attend job interviews and secure a job with government initiatives although some states are currently under a conditional movement control order,” he said in a statement yesterday.

The special career carnival was jointly organised by the Human Resources Ministry and Youth and Sports Ministry to address the unemployment issue, especially involving the youth, which has become more serious due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Bernama reported.

Citing data from the Social Security Organisation Employment Insurances System, Saravanan said as of Nov 20, a total of 19,396, or over 62%, of workers who lost their jobs were from among the youth, the majority of them aged between 25 and 29.

“Records also show that unemployment among youth has increased to 9%. In line with the Youth Empowerment Agenda, the two ministries are committed to collaborate on issues pertaining to job opportunities, new jobs creation, skills training as well as youth access to funding and facilities,” he added.

Saravanan said as the country continues to deal with Covid-19 challenges, the government would double its effort in implementing job opportunity programmes with strategic partners to reduce the unemployment rate, especially among the youth in the country.