KUALA LUMPUR – Only 2,982 of the 18,547 vacancies available in the agriculture sector last year have been filled, said Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan.
He said statistics from the Social Security Organisation Employment Insurance System (Socso-SIP) show that jobseekers who are mostly school leavers and graduates are not keen on agricultural jobs.
“Perhaps it is time for the agricultural sector to be more creative and rebrand the business of farming to attract and recruit young people,” he said in his speech at the virtual Agricommodity Career Carnival 2021 today.
Saravanan said the ministry is aware of the labour shortage problem faced by the agricommodity industry during the Covid-19 pandemic, as the recruitment of foreign workers had been frozen in all sectors.
However, he said as a short-term solution, the government has given flexibility to affected employers who can no longer afford to continue their business, to transfer all or part of their foreign workers to other companies through the Transfer of Employer programme.
The Human Resources Ministry and Home Ministry also launched the Recalibration Plan for illegal immigrants from November 16 last year to June 30, 2021, which includes the Repatriation Recalibration and Labour Recalibration programmes.
In addition, an initiative under the PenjanaKerjaya programme, namely “Malaysianisation”, was introduced and involves the replacement of foreign workers to local workers, whereby the incentive to employers covers 40% of the monthly salary with a maximum value of RM4,000.
“As much as RM500 or 20% of the monthly salary, or whichever is higher, will be paid directly to the employee. This incentive is eligible for a period of six months,” he said.
More than 8,600 job vacancies are being offered by 26 employers at the two-day carnival and, apart from virtual interview sessions, the programme includes a webinar session in career opportunities and a briefing on PenjanaKerjaya 2.0.
The carnival is organised by the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry in collaboration with the Human Resources Ministry through Socso. To participate, jobseekers can register through the Socso website. – Bernama, March 9, 2021
