By Ahmad Fauzi Mustafa
It must be said that generally speaking, the feeling on the ground overall is that the current employment or unemployment climate is still being addressed.
And, post-Covid-19, not just Malaysia but all the countries in this world are still in the process of re-strengthening their economies.
If there is one positive development to take in is a recent statement from the Statistics Department Malaysia that the unemployment rate has decreased to 3.5 per cent in February 2023.
The department said that there were 591,900 unemployed persons compared to 596,100 recorded in January. The reduction might seem miniscule but it is still an improvement.
One should also take into consideration what the Minister of Human Resources, V. Sivakumar, said when summarising his speech during the National Human Capital Conference and Exhibition 2023 (NHCCE 2023) a few days ago.
In concluding his speech, he urged everyone to work towards strengthening our human capital efforts and building a dynamic workforce.
“The country is on a solid growth trajectory, and we need to build on this momentum. Last year, we recorded a GDP growth of 8.7 per cent.
“This is our highest annual growth in 22 years, indicating that Malaysia is on a solid path to recovery, despite the global and domestic uncertainties of the past few years,” he said.
I’m sure for the general public that they are hopeful too about it. Like the minister stated, that for multinational companies (MNCs) will increase their investment commitments in Malaysia that will further give momentum to the nation’s economic growth.
Such investments will no doubt lead to new employment opportunities for Malaysians and boost the development of our technological infrastructure, thus increasing high-value economic activities as well.
We should also be aware of the competition from our neighbours especially in the realm of foreign direct investments (FDIs).
Again, we should surely take notice too that Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines have all embarked on intensive and proactive efforts to attract more MNCs to their country.
In other words, while Malaysia continues her upward trajectory economy-wise, a lot of work still need to be done, and continuously.
According to the human resources ministry webside, Malaysia’s service sector continued to register increases in the number of employed persons.
It largely involves wholesale & retail trade; food & beverage services, and administrative & support service activities.
Encouragingly, a similar employment trend was also observed in the manufacturing, construction and mining & quarrying sectors, as well as in the agriculture sector.
With such positive developments, it is believed that in line with official policies, the move to enhance our workers soft, technical, and future work skills have borne fruit.
This has also been what the Human Resources Ministry aims for after supporting industry players in offering greater upskilling and reskilling opportunities for their employees.
In short, while the employment sector improves, our economic growth must be continuous as that will ensure further reduction in the unemployment front.
Another report by a news portal gives the impression that much need to be done in moving forward when it quoted an economist and two studies that said that unemployment and low pay are the two main reasons why young Malaysians are falling into bankruptcy. – BACALAHMALAYSIA.MY
- The writer is an experienced analyst and media practitioner of almost 30 years in the industry.
