KUALA LUMPUR: Jobs are aplenty, but a large number of youths remain unemployed mainly because they do not want those jobs, according to Human Resource Minister M. Kulasegaran (pix).
He said that currently about 640,000 jobs are available and they are not in the 3D (dirty, dangerous, difficult) categories.
Among them are 21,000 professional jobs and 22,000 technical jobs, he told the Dewan Rakyat today.
Apart from that, he said, there are 250,000 vacancies in the green economy sector of which more than 150,000 have been filled.
“But the biggest problem we face is that no one wants to take up these jobs,” he said in reply to a supplementary question from Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (BN-Bera).
Nonetheless, Kulasegaran said, the government would deliver on its promise to make a million jobs available by the end of its five-year term.
There is also a downside to the job market. He said there were more lay-offs in the private sector in the first nine months of 2019 compared with the whole of 2018.
He said that based merely on notification by employers, 24,600 workers were laid off from Jan 1 to Sept 30 this year compared with 23,168 the whole of last year. Of those who lost their jobs this year, 21,625 employees (87.9%) underwent normal discontinuation, while 2,975 (12.1%) opted for the VSS (voluntary separation scheme).
The manufacturing sector is the most badly hit, losing 7,944 employees, followed by the administrative and support services with 7,309 lay-offs, trading with 2,123, finance and insurance (1,748), accommodation and F&B services (1,049), as well as information and communication (679).
In 2018, 17,236 employees (74.4%) underwent the normal discontinuation process whereas 5,932 (25.6%) took VSS, he added.
Kulasegaran said the government is conducting a study on related legislation to introduce more initiatives to encourage the participation of youth in the gig economy.
“There are plenty of openings, but there is no one to take those jobs,” he said.
