KUALA TERENGGANU – The unemployment rate in Terengganu increased to 3.8% in the second quarter of this year, from 3.3% in the first quarter, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Terengganu state assembly was told today.
State Entrepreneurship, Human Resources, Micro Industry and Hawkers Affairs Committee chairman Mohd Nurkhuzaini Ab Rahman said the rate was still low compared with the national rate of 5.1%.
He said that based on records, the unemployment rate in Terengganu in 2018 was 4.8%, the highest in the peninsula, but it dropped to 3.5% in 2019.
He was responding to a question from Hilmi Harun (PAS-Manir) on efforts by the government to reduce the unemployment rate.
Nurkhuzaini said the state government through the Terengganu Human Resource Development Centre had collaborated with more than 20 agencies to implement job matching programmes between employers and employees, as well as create training for new careers.
The agencies involved include the Social Security Organisation, Manpower Department, Job Malaysia, Terengganu Skilled Development Centre, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, and the Terengganu Timber Industry Training Centre.
“T-HRDC also works with employers and industry associations that need employees, such as the Terengganu Oil and Gas Council, which comprises 40 companies involved in oil and gas, and also automated component manufacturing companies,” he said. – Bernama, November 25, 2020
