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KUALA LUMPUR: The government must focus on increasing employment opportunities, especially for graduates and young people facing unemployment due to the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, under the 2021 Budget that will be presented this Friday (November 6).
Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Educational Studies at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Dr. Mohd Mursyid Arshad, said that young people are one of the most affected groups, with almost 40 percent of the workforce having between 15 and 30 years.
“Local higher education institutions are reported to produce around 200,000 graduates a year, and nearly 300,000 local and foreign graduates are seeking job opportunities in Malaysia.
“According to the results of a recent youth survey conducted by a UPM research team, young people want permanent jobs with income commensurate with their qualifications,” he told Bernama here.
However, the job growth rate has slowed in various economic sectors due to the outbreak, making young people now very concerned about unemployment, as the number of unemployed in July stood at 544,500.
Therefore, Mohd Mursyid suggested that the government should provide employment opportunities geared towards digital technology so that young people and those who have lost their jobs do not have to rely solely on salaried jobs.
“Generating income through the gig economy has enormous potential in today’s digital environment, and young people are urged to take advantage of the best opportunities by taking advantage of incentives provided by the government through the myGIG Youth program.
“However, the 2021 Budget should focus aggressively on the development of broadband infrastructure, as the employment and education sectors now depend on internet connectivity.
“There are network blind spots in urban areas, much less in rural and remote areas,” he added.
Apart from that, he also urged the government to increase the number of business centers to train young people in business, as well as to provide skills development programs for young people.
Such programs, he said, should emphasize aspects of skill enhancement, retraining, and cross-skills to be able to perform various tasks in a highly challenging environment due to Covid-19.
The government is also encouraged to continue the ‘Place and Train’ incentive through apprenticeship programs by encouraging more industry players, especially corporate companies, to provide training, experience and job opportunities to graduates and people who have lost their jobs.
“Collaborations between higher education institutions and industry players must continually intensify so that the graduates produced match the needs of today’s industry,” he said. -Called
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