Today is International Labour Day, which falls on May
1st every year. We are thankful today for our country’s low
unemployment rate of only 3.3 per cent in January 2013. This is a much
lower rate if compared to several advanced countries such as Spain
(26.2%), the Eurozone (12%), France (10.7%), United States (7.9%) and
Australia (5.4%).
We are also grateful that our cost of living is under
control as reflected in the increased figures of the inflation
indicator for January of 1.3 percent, grateful with the improvement of
our living standards as reflected in the relative poverty rate which
have declined to 1.7 per cent and in increase in per-capita income to
USD$9,700 in 2012.
Nevertheless, the Government is conscious of the need
to double up on efforts to improve the skills of our workforce. In
creating a more skilled workforce, we have provided RM3.7 billion in the
2013 Budget in order to train students in technical and vocational
fields. This in line with the Government’s mission of making Malaysia a
high-income nation by 2020.
In addition to that, we have also improved and
amended the Social Security Act 1969 to raise the eligibility age for
the Invalidity Pension Scheme in order for it to be consistent with the
Minimum Retirement Age Act of 2012.
