As many as 320,000 individuals in Malaysia have found jobs through the National Employment Council (NEC) initiative.
According to Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz, the govt has allocated RM2 billion for the PenjanaKerjaya programme under Budget 2021. Aiming to help the target groups find jobs, PenjanaKerjaya 2.0 has helped more than 141,000 people secured jobs.
“Meanwhile, PenjanaKerjaya 3.0 has been introduced under the People’s Well-being and Economic Recovery Package (Pemulih), with several improvements incorporated.
“Among them are reducing the salary eligibility limit under the Malaysianisation programme and easing the employment contract period for workers aged 50 and above, the disabled and ex-prisoners,” he said in the 64th Inter-Agencies Economic Stimulus Implementation and Coordination Unit (Laksana) report.
The NEC was established with the target of creating 500,000 jobs and skills training placements through a strategic collaboration between government agencies and industry players.
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Tengku Zafrul said the government was also aware of the commitments facing SMEs and micro-entrepreneurs such as bills, rent and employee salaries. Hence, he said continuous assistance has been and is being implemented to ensure that they persevere and could bounce back.
The minister also said starting August, the wage subsidy will be detailed in the salary slip of each employee who receives the government wage subsidy.
On a question raised during the Dewan Rakyat session recently whether the size of the aid package was sufficient, he said the government had introduced eight economic packages amounted to RM530 billion since last year, including the largest budget in the country’s history in Budget 2021 amounted to RM322.5 billion. He claimed that this number is one of the largest rates compared to stimulus packages from other countries such as Indonesia, South Korea and the United States.
However, the key to the recovery, as well as success against Covid-19, hinges on the level of vaccination achieved, he added.
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