KOTA KINABALU – Over 1,000 Sabahans have lost their jobs from January to September 16 this year, but at the same time, more than 10,000 people in the state gained employment, according to data from the Social Security Organisation (Socso).
Announcing this, Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said the state government had been actively holding job fairs and creating online job portals to address the state’s unemployment rate of 9.1%.
Six job carnivals have been held this year to date by the state’s Human Resource Development Department (HRDD), through which 1,282 people have been offered jobs.
He also urged Sabahans, especially youths and jobseekers to make full use of the job portals prepared by the state government to seek jobs that suit their qualifications.
These portals are the Sabah Jobs Portal and the national-level MYFutureJobs.
As of September 27, 2022, a total of 5,491 jobseekers and 233 employers offering 365 vacancies have registered with the Sabah Jobs Portal.
“With the government’s job portals, we can offer a platform for jobseekers and employers. I recommend youths and jobseekers register with the Sabah Jobs Portal. I want more youths or school graduates to use this portal to find jobs,” he said.
Hajiji said this when launching Perdana Job Carnival Sabah Maju Jaya 2022 at Sabah International Convention Centre here today.
The carnival was organised by the Sabah Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry and its agency, HRDD, and Socso, offering over 1,500 job opportunities from 20 employers of various sectors.
On another note, Hajiji said there is a need to develop a database to narrow the gap between job offers and demand by employers and employees.
“This needs to be done by increasing efforts to hold outreach programmes to get jobseekers’ profiles nationwide,” he said.
Hajiji also said new initiatives – such as the Sabah Youth Entrepreneur Jaya Scheme (Syabas) – have been introduced to help Sabah youths start as well as expand businesses.
“The Sabah government has allocated RM10 million for Syabas to provide financial assistance to young entrepreneurs in the state,” he added. – The Vibes, October 8, 2022
