Govt initiatives ‘saved’ 300,000 firms, 2.72 million workers: Saravanan

KUALA LUMPUR – Some 300,000 companies and 2.72 million workers have been “saved” through government initiatives during the various iterations of the movement control order (MCO) to curb Covid-19, said Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan.

The Tapah MP, replying to a supplementary question by Datuk Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub (BN-Machang) during Ministers’ Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat today, said the government’s actions can be considered successful under the extraordinary circumstances, where the administration is facing economic, health and political crises simultaneously.

“We started our initiatives beginning with the Employee Retention Programme, when companies started to ask employees to take unpaid leave during the initial period of the MCO.

“Then, the government also kick-started the Wage Subsidy Programme to ensure that employers would be able to retain their employees.”

Due to such measures, he said, Malaysia’s unemployment rate continues to decrease steadily since its peak of 5.3% in May, when 826,100 people were unemployed.

To a question on how many jobs were affected following the second conditional MCO in October, Saravanan said the Labour Force Survey in September showed that the unemployment rate fell to 4.6%, or 737,500 people.

“Based on the survey conducted by the Statistics Department, employees in the aviation, hospitality and tourism sectors were the most severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“However, the unemployment rate in December is projected to drop to 4.5%, and the declining trend will continue into 2021.”

He confirmed ministry data that showed 99,696 people had been retrenched, as reported under the Social Security Organisation’s Employment Insurance System, as of November 27, while 120,296 out of 372,934 job-seekers have secured employment.

“The country has gone through seven months of (movement controls) to curb the spread of Covid-19.

“Since June 10, the recovery MCO allowed more economic sectors to operate, even if businesses were unable to operate at an optimum level.

“At the same time, various stimulus packages have been introduced by the government to help cushion the impact of the pandemic on the economy, including the labour market.

“Therefore, continuous improvement can definitely be observed in the labour market despite being in a moderate position. This is reflected by the monthly positive growth in employment since June, as well as the downward trend in the unemployment rate.” – The Vibes, December 9, 2020