Gerawat addressing DUN members during the question and answer session during the sitting today.
KUCHING (May 18): A total of 4,037 Sarawakians have lost their job due to the Covid-19 pandemic over the past two years, said Deputy Minister in the Premier of Sarawak’s Department (Labour, Immigration and Project Monitoring) Datuk Gerawat Gala.
In giving a breakdown, Gerawat said 3,002 Sarawakians have lost their job in 2020, while another 1,035 Sarawakians became jobless in 2021.
Gerawat said the top economic sectors that contributed to the retrenchment in 2020 and 2021 in the state were the hotel and food sectors with 2,772 people retrenched, retail and sales sectors with 1,328 retrenched and construction sector where 1,030 people have lost their job.
He also said that based on the Labour Department’s records, a total of 3,765 workers and 2,167 workers have experienced a salary reduction in the year 2020 and 2021 respectively due to the pandemic.
“As a measure to lift the burden of the people, including those who lost their job, the state government has implemented eight packages of Sarawakku Sayang Special Assistance (BKSS) worth a total of RM5.7 billion,” said Gerawat when responding to a question from Safiee Ahmad (GPS-Daro) at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting today.
Gerawat pointed out that the state government has also introduced some supportive measures which included cash assistance for the B40 group, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and postponement of rental payment for business premises.
Besides that, he said the state government has also implemented graduate enhancement training programmes and industry workforce development programme which offered industrial trainings.
As for the long-term measure, he said the state government will organise more initiatives under the Post Covid-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030 plan to create more economic activities which are expected to create over 200,000 high paying jobs by 2030.