‘Malaysia@Work a way to tackle high unemployment rate’

MIRI: The Malaysia@Work initiative is set to cut down the country’s unemployment rate upon its expected implementation within this year’s second quarter.

In stating this, Senator Alan Ling views the programme as ‘a win-win situation’ – it aims to motivate those who are still unemployed, and at the same time, it can also help boost the development of the nation.

“This initiative, which was announced under Budget 2020, would involve a package of RM6.5 billion in allocation that will span over a period of five years. During this duration, it is estimated to create 350,000 jobs – or about 70,000 jobs per year,” he told reporters when met during his visit to SMK Chung Hua Miri yesterday.

The Malaysia@Work, said Ling, would be divided into four sub-programmes – ‘ Graduates@ Work’, ‘Women@Work’, ‘Locals@ Work’ and ‘ Apprentice@Work’ – all of which would come with various incentives for both the employees and the employers.

“Under Graduates@Work, it aims to encourage graduates who have been unemployed for at least 12 months; any graduate

This initiative, which was announced under Budget 2020, would involve a package of RM6.5 billion in allocation that will span over a period of five years. During this duration, it is estimated to create 350,000 jobs – or about 70,000 jobs per year. Senator Alan Ling

who manages to land a job would receive a monthly incentive of RM500 over the span of two years, and at the same time, the employer would also receive RM300 (per month) throughout the same duration.

“The Women@Work aims to create 33,000 job opportunities within a year to women, particularly those aged between 30 and 50, who have been unemployed for at least a year. The monthly incentive under this sub-programme is RM500 over two years and for the employer, it is RM300 (monthly) throughout the same duration,” he said.

The ‘Locals@Work’, on the other hand, is meant to encourage employers to hire more local talents.

Under this scheme, every Malaysian citizen who takes over the position of a foreign worker would be given monthly