Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has announced that the Malaysians@Work initiative will be open for registration in April.

The initiative, which aims to provide better job opportunities for unemployed Malaysians and to reduce dependency on foreign labour, is a stimulus package conceived to help create up to 350,000 jobs over the next five years.

“Don’t be mistaken that we will only create 350,000 jobs. This is only for the Malaysians@Work programme. It will be in addition to the one million jobs to be created by the private sector,” Guan Eng further clarified.

The Malaysians@Work initiative was first unveiled at the tabling of Budget 2020, with a total of RM6.5 billion allocated for it. It offers monthly incentives over a course of two years for both employers and employees who meet certain criteria.

The Malaysians@Work programme has four components to it: Apprentice@Work, Graduates@Work, Women@Work, and Locals@Work.

Apprentice@Work and Graduates@Work focuses on the hiring of fresh graduates and technical/vocational education and training (TVET) among youths, respectively. Women@Work, on the other hand, is aimed at bringing qualified women back to the Malaysian workforce.  Lastly, Graduates@Work seeks to reduce Malaysia’s dependency on foreign labour for low-skilled jobs.

To facilitate the execution of the initiative, the government will set up a special Employees Provident Fund (EPF) account for eligible employees. The programme is slated to commence in stages starting from the second quarter of 2020.

(Source: New Straits Times)

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• Apprentice@Work
• Budget 2020
• Graduates@Work
• Lim Guan Eng
• Locals@Work
• Malaysians@Work
• Women@Work