Budget 2020: RM500 wage incentive for graduates who secure work

PETALING JAYA: Graduates who secure a job after being unemployed for more than a year will receive a wage incentive of RM500 per month under Budget 2020.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said under the Graduates@Work programme, graduates who secure work would receive a wage incentive of RM500 per month for a duration of two years.

"Employers will receive a hiring incentive up to RM300 per month for each new hire for two years," he said when tabling the Budget 2020 in Parliament on Friday (Oct 11).

Lim noted that there were more than half a million unemployed Malaysians in 2018, of whom 140,000 were unemployed graduates.

Out of those unemployed, Lim said 290,000 were youths including those until 24 years old.

Lim said the programme was designed specifically for the hiring of graduates who had been unemployed for more than a year.