By Karen Bong
KUCHING, June 5: The federal government will be providing financial incentives under the Employment Incentive Programme worth RM1.5 billion to encourage companies to employ jobless people and the youth in particular.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the incentives to hire the unemployed under the age of 40 is RM800 per month each and RM1,000 per month each for unemployed and disabled (OKU) persons above the age of 40.
“These incentives will be given for six months,” he said in unveiling the short-term economy recovery plan in a televised address in Putrajaya today.
To assist and encourage jobless people to upskill, he added that training allowances up to RM4,000 can be claimed from Socso for those who have lost their jobs, even though they are not contributors under the Employment Insurance Scheme (EIS).
“To address the issue of youth employment and enhance the employability of graduates, the government will also provide incentives to employers who provide apprenticeships to school leavers and graduates at a rate of RM600 per month.
“The government will also allocate RM2 billion for skills development programmes for the unemployed and the youth. This will benefit more than 200,000 people,” he said, adding that this included training and placement programmes, implementation of short courses at selected institutions and training subsidies.
For the unemployed, Muhyiddin added that the government will implement upskilling programmes in key industries such as electric and electronics as well as information and communication technologies (ICT) and encourage the continuation of learning through short-term courses and training subsidies.
The government, he continued, will also formulate policies to support the gig economy and welfare of workers in this sector with allocation of RM75 million.
“First, a RM50 million grant in the form of matching funds will be provided for the gig economy platform to contribute to its employees under the Socso’s Occupational Disaster Scheme and the EPF i-Remuneration Scheme.
“Secondly, an allocation of RM25 million to MDEC for the Global Online Workforce (GLOW) programme aimed at guiding Malaysians to generate income online through international clients.
Muhyiddin pointed out that a Special National Employment Committee will be set up to coordinate and monitor the implementation of all the above initiatives.
“The Committee will be chaired by the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Human Resources with representatives from the private and public sectors,” he added.—DayakDaily
