PM sets 50% target to achieve status of high-income economy

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia needs to nearly double the number of its skilled workers to achieve the status of a high-income economy.

Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the Government aimed to raise the percentage of skilled workers from the present 28 per cent to 50 per cent of the total workforce in order to meet the labour demand in 2020.

"The 50 per cent target is a challenge not just for the Human Resources Ministry but also the private sector.

But it can be achieved with the right incentives and encouragement by the Government," the Prime Minister said in his address at the 2013 Labour Day gathering at Stadium Putra in Bukit Jalil here yesterday.

Addressing 12,000 employees and employers from the private and public sectors representing the country's 12.3 million workforce, Najib outlined several measures the Government had taken to meet the target.

They include introducing the MyProCert training programme to help upgrade the skills of 7,500 workers to international certification standards.

The 2013 Budget, meanwhile, has allocated RM3.7bil for technical and vocational training to produce more skilled workers.

Najib said the Government aimed to create 3.3 million new jobs by 2020, of which 61 per cent would be skilled workers.

"These goals can only be achieved if there is a cohesive partnership between this tripartism of workers, employers and the Government," said Najib.

To protect the social welfare of workers in a high-income economy, the Government had also introduced new measures such as a minimum wage, he added.

The Prime Minister later presented various awards to employers and employees.

General manager of Era Edar Marketing Sdn Bhd Hamsiah Ismail won the Worker's Excellence Award in the executive category while Hong Leong Bank Bhd clerk Mohmed Dauzkaply Nor Ghazali came out tops in the non-executive category.

Vitrox Technologies Sdn Bhd scooped the Prime Minister's award for private sector employer excellence.

Human Resources Minister Datuk Richard Riot, who was also present at the event, told reporters that about 400 companies employing more than six workers each had been allowed to delay the minimum wage payment to Dec 31.

Under the National Minimum Wage Order, employers with six or more workers are required to start paying the minimum wage from Jan 1 this year while those with five workers and below must start on July 1.

The Ministry had also received a number of applications from em­ployers with fewer than five workers to postpone paying minimum wages.

The applications would be considered at the next meeting of the National Wage Consultative Council next month, he said.

Private sector employees in peninsular Malaysia must be paid a minimum of RM900 while those in Sabah and Sarawak will earn RM800 a month.

(Source: http://news.asiaone.com)