KOTA KINABALU: Aware of the rising unemployment among graduates, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said the government would strive towards creating and providing job opportunities to reduce their number.
Musa said this to the media after launching the state-level 1Malaysia Training Scheme (SL1M) held at Universiti Malaysia Sabah yesterday and gave the assurance that the government is doing all it can to provide ample job opportunites for these unemployed graduates in the state.
He described the training scheme incorporated in SL1M as one of several efforts and endeavours being implemented by the government to address the problem.
“SL1M will provide opportunities to our unemployed graduates and it is akin to match making whereby companies and the industries in Sabah are encouraged to accord opportunities to graduates to work,” he said, viewing it as a performance of the corporate social responsibility by corporations in Sabah.
Musa disclosed that in return, the government would give an incentive in the form of a multiple tax deduction to any company which adopts SL1M for a period of five years commencing June 1, 2012 until December 31, 2016.
The incentive is the government’s expression of gratitude and recognition to these companies for their cooperation, commitment and support to overcome the problem of unemployment among graduates, he said.
Musa urged companies in Sabah to create the much wanted job opportunities to benefit the tax incentive and at the same time called on idle graduates not to be choosy with jobs.
He expressed hope for the programme to succeed in the effort to reduce unemployment among graduates in Sabah.
During the press conference, it was disclosed that 44 out of 80 companies participating in the programme nationwide are located in Sabah, and they encompass all sectors of the industry.
Sawit Kinabalu was named as one of those companies.
The SL1M secretariat has received 10,000 applications from graduates submitted via its jobsmalaysia.gov.my portal and out of these only 4,000 are deemed to have fulfilled the requirements with 400 or 10 per cent of them from Sabah.
The state has a total workforce of 1.5 million and about 30,000 have sought for job opportunities through JobsMalaysia.
In a briefing, the Economic Planning Unit director (human development) of the Prime Minister’s Department, Dr Gazali Abas, said that the country produces over 1,000 graduates annually with 80 per cent of them eventually securing a job six months after graduating while 20 per cent were considered as not so lucky.
“The background of most of the 20 per cent are from the rural areas and poor families,” he said.
Dr Gazali added that unemployed graduates participating in the programme will be provided with soft skills training and undergo a 10-month attachment training with one of the participating companies before they will eventually land the security of a job.
It was explained that companies keen on taking part in the programme must be registered with the Registrar of Companies, while the degree holders must be Malaysian citizens and unemployed.