Youth unemployment rate down in first quarter

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s youth unemployment rate dropped to 10.1% in the first quarter of the year compared with 11.1% for the same period last year.

Deputy Human Resources Minister Mustapha Sakmud said the high unemployment rate among youths is a global phenomenon faced by most countries.

“It takes into account that this age group is in the transition process from their academic years to the job market, and then through the process of gaining employment.

“Towards that end, the government will continue to formulate and implement various initiatives across ministries and agencies to help reduce the unemployment rate as a whole, including among youths in urban and rural areas,” he said during a question-andanswer session at the Dewan Rakyat here yesterday.

He was responding to a question from Datuk Seri Dr Shahidan Kassim (PN-Arau) on government efforts to tackle youth unemployment as a result of job mismatch, lack of skills and issues concerning job quality and quantity.

Mustapha said the Human Resources Ministry, through the Social Security Organisation, has also intensified several programmes, including the MyFutureJobs platform that provides more than one million job and 148,000 professional job vacancies.

He added that a total of 1,366 career fairs were organised nationwide of which 21,740 job seekers, with 78.1% of them being youths, successfully secured placements.

On the performance of Technical and Vocational Education and Training graduates in the job market, Mustapha said based on evaluations conducted, 99% of employers were satisfied with their work.

“The ministry is also intensifying efforts to hold programmes through Talent Corp with a focus on development, marketability of the country’s young talent through synergy and collaboration across ministries, departments, government agencies and higher education institutions,” he said. – Bernama