MELAKA – The unemployment rate in Melaka increased to 2.2% or 9,700 people in the second quarter of this year compared to 1.2% or 5,500 people recorded in the first quarter.
State unity, community relations, human resource and consumer affairs committee chairman Datuk Ismail Othman attributed the increase to the implementation of the movement control order.
“Based on reports from the Statistics Department, the Social Security Organisation (Socso), and the Melaka State Labour Department, the unemployment rate in Melaka last year was around 1.1% involving 4,600 people.
“The state government is very aware and concerned about the unemployment issue,” he said outside the state assembly sitting at Kompleks Seri Negeri here today.
Ismail said various efforts have been implemented to lower the unemployment rate in the state, including prioritising the employment of locals over foreign workers especially in the 3D (dirty, dangerous, and difficult) sector.
He said the state government had also implemented various initiatives to help those who lost their jobs due to the pandemic, including donating food kits to them and providing job opportunities through the Penjana Career Carnival organised by Socso’s Melaka office.
Ismail said employers and job seekers in Melaka were also encouraged to use the MyFuture Jobs portal to help match job seekers to vacancies accurately.
“Career counselling and outreach programmes for every community are also being implemented, in addition to rehiring and reskilling programmes for jobs that require additional skills at community colleges and industrial training institutes in Melaka,” he said. – Bernama, December 9, 2020
