100,000 jobless Malaysians by year-end
Over 100,000 Malaysians will lose their jobs by the end of this year, the Human Resources Ministry said today.
The grim projection of rising unemployment means the country will have to brace for things to get worse even as the government rushes to prepare a stimulus package that will only cushion the impact of a global recession.
Datuk Noraini Ahmad, the deputy human resources minister told Parliament today that 54,977 Malaysians have already lost their jobs since last October.
Of this figure, 4,620 chose voluntary separation schemes, 38,821 were temporarily laid off and 11,536 were permanently sacked.
Earlier figures by the government had only mentioned the 11,000-plus who had been sacked, despite claims by other parties that hundreds of thousands of jobs were under threat.
Noraini also added that the ministry projected between 40,000 to 58,000 workers would lose their jobs this year.
She said this in answer to Datuk Halimah Mohd Sadique’s (BN-Tenggara) question on a projection by the Malaysian Employers Federation that between 200,000 to 400,000 jobs were under threat this year.
“The ministry is aware of this projection, which may be based on a continuous downturn. But, according to our unemployment operation centres, only 54,977 have lost their jobs from Oct 1 to yesterday, 5pm,” Noraini said.
Asked by Halimah about the “tens of thousands of Malaysian workers overseas,” Noraini replied that while a “train and place” programme was in place, very few overseas workers had registered with the ministry.
Using Singapore as an example, where about 300,000 Malaysians are working, Noraini said that only three workers had registered while another nine had signed up at the Johor Baru office.
