More than 8k workers re-employed after getting ESO assistance

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): A total of 8,254 unemployed workers have been re-employed after receiving assistance from the employment service officers (ESOs), since the Re-Employment Placement Programme for Employment Insurance System (EIS) commenced in August 2018.

Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran said the EIS Employment Services Division started providing employment services through the Social Security Organisation (Socso) Return-to-Work Program, or RTW.

“The RTW also offers comprehensive physical and vocational rehabilitation to employees insured by Socso, who suffer from injuries or illness with the objective of enabling them to return to work,” he said at the EIS Socso Job Carnival 2019 at NU Sentral here on Tuesday (April 16).

The RTW programme is the first in Malaysia to provide individualised placement support for workers with disabilities, based on the case-management and individualised-placement approach, which includes facilitating persons with disabilities through interviews, organising job fairs, providing job coaches and direct support at the workplace.

Kulasegaran said the EIS has set up the Employment Services Division, consisting of 246 ESOs in 54 offices throughout the country.

He said Socso, under EIS, has also paid RM30.3 million in benefits to 34,208 workers who lost their employment and fulfilled all the requirements from 1st Jan 2018 to March 2019.

In conjunction with the job carnival, Socso also signed a Memorandum of Collaboration (MoC) with VDAB (Flemish Employment Services and Vocational Training), the primary Public Employment Services agency in Belgium.

Meanwhile, Socso chief executive officer Datuk Seri Dr Mohammed Azman Aziz Mohammed said 45 employers from various industry sectors were participating in the carnival by offering more than 5,000 jobs.

“This the first time we are using an online registration system, where employers can directly access the resumes of the candidates without them having to print many resumes. The employers' feedback is positive as it is easy to use during career fairs. We have received more than 1,000 job seekers who are present and have registered with us,” he said.

The two-day job carnival which started on Monday (April 15), is held to assist the public, specifically Socso contributors, who have lost their jobs by providing them a platform through open interviews. - Bernama