Youth unemployment rate declines in Q1

Malaysia's youth unemployment rate dropped to 10.1% in the first quarter of the year compared to 11.1% for the same period last year. 

Deputy Human Resources Minister Mustapha Sakmud said the high unemployment rate among youths is a global phenomenon faced by most countries. 

"It takes into account that this age group is in the transition process from their academic years to the job market and then through the process of gaining employment. 

"Towards that end, the government will continue to formulate and implement various initiatives across ministries and agencies to help reduce the unemployment rate as a whole, including among youths in urban and rural areas," he said during the question-and-answer session at the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was responding to a question from Shahidan Kassim (PN-Arau) on government efforts to tackle youth unemployment as a result of job mismatch, lack of skills and issues concerning job quality and quantity.

He said the human resources ministry, through Socso, has also intensified several programmes, including the MyFutureJobs platform which provides more than 1 million job vacancies and 148,000 professional job vacancies.

In addition, Mustapha said a total of 1,366 career fairs were organised nationwide of which 21,740 job seekers, 78.1% of them youths, successfully secured placements. 

On the performance of technical and vocational education and training graduates in the job market, he said that based on evaluations conducted, 99% of employers were satisfied with their work.

"The human resources ministry is also intensifying efforts to hold programmes through Talent Corp with a focus on development, marketability of the country's young talent through synergy and collaboration across ministries, departments, government agencies and higher education institutions," he said.