JEMPOL – The starting salary for graduates entering the job market is expected to be higher in the next three or four months, in view of the recovering economy, said Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.
The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said Putrajaya is aware that the wages received by fresh graduates last year were low, and attributed this to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Last year, we experienced the worst economic recession in history, so job opportunities were low, and of course, graduates were willing to receive lower salaries.
“We want Malaysians to enjoy higher salaries. It is a problem when graduates’ starting salary has not increased in 10 to 20 years,” he told reporters after visiting a young ginger farming project at Felda Raja Muda Alias 1 here today.
It is the government’s aspiration to create more quality jobs so that newly employed graduates enjoy better pay, he said.
It was reported this week that Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the majority of graduates entering the job market last year received a monthly salary of between RM1,001 and RM1,500, compared with the average of RM2,001 to RM2,500 in 2019.
He said the number of graduates entering the labour force also saw a decline last year.
Meanwhile, Mustapa said RM10 million has been allocated to the ginger project in the Felda Raja Alias region out of the RM100 million set aside by Putrajaya for Felda under the settlers’ development programme this year.
The project, carried out with the cooperation of Agrobank, aims to increase settlers’ income and reduce the country’s dependence on imports of young ginger, including from China.
“We import young ginger worth RM200 million a year from other countries… so, in line with the government’s aim to reduce imports and increase food security, we encourage farmers to plant young ginger because it has market potential,” said Mustapa.
A total of 132 projects have been approved by Felda under the settlers’ development scheme, with 63 undertaken by individuals and the rest by cooperatives. – Bernama, April 3, 2021
