KUCHING: The Sarawak Labour Department has received a special allocation of RM11 million this year to provide job placements to 1,000 hardcore poor applicants registered with the Sarawak E-Kasih system under its Azam Kerja programme, its state director August Buma said yesterday.
He said the allocation, which was provided by the Performance Management and Delivery UNit (Pemandu) of the Prime Minister’s Department, was part of the department’s target to help 1,000 out of the total 6,491 registered people out of the poverty cycle in the state.
“The department is working closely with non-governmental organisations and relevant agencies, including the Jabatan Pembangunan Kemahiran, to get them self-employed or employed, whereby, the employers are asked to train and pay them salaries,” he told Bernama in conjuction with Sarawak Federal Secretary Datuk Md Yahya Basimin’s working visit to the department at Bangunan Sultan Iskandar, Jalan Simpang Tiga here.
In providing job placement for the hardcore poor under Azam Kerja, he said, the department also gave allowances to the applicants, some of whom included professionals from poor rural families, as a motivation and supplement to their income while undergoing training.
The department’s statewide job carnival starting from April 25 to 27 would be held in Bintulu, which is the focus of the state government due to the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (Score) with its heavy industries that were progressing well, he said.
Buma said the Samalaju Industrial Zone in Bintulu would also require skilled and semi-skilled workforce once operational, especially in the construction sector, which required technical welders and scaffolding operators.
As such, he said, the department’s Bintulu office, that was set up in 1979 in anticipation of the booming liquefied natural gas industry played a critical role in expanding job opportunites to meet labour market requirement and ensuring a conducive labour environment, which encouraged the growth of industries and investment.
At present Malaysia has a 4.6 percent unemployment rate, a percentage that was considered full employment in certain developed countries, he said. — Bernama