Govt targets half a million housewives for Socso in 2023

KUALA LUMPUR: The government is looking at covering 500,000 housewives nationwide under the social protection scheme by the end of the year, said Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar.

He said under the Housewives’ Social Security Scheme (SKSSR), which began on Dec 1 last year, more than three million housewives will be covered under the protection scheme that provides various forms of compensation should they be injured or disabled while managing households.

At the official launch of SKSSR by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim here yesterday, Sivakumar said the next-of-kin of housewives under the scheme would also receive a survivor’s pension and funeral benefits.

In his speech at the event, Sivakumar said as of Jan 31, the number of housewives who have contributed came up to 141,144.

“We aim to reach a target of 500,000 housewives as contributors by the end of this year. Of the current total, 135,281 are housewives who are registered with eKasih and have contributed as i-Suri KWSP.

“Their contributions to the SKSSR were government-sponsored for one year under the 2022 Budget,” said Sivakumar.

He explained that under the scheme, which covers housewives aged 55 and below, a “housewife” is defined as one who manages households either full-time or part time, married or single.

“With only a lump sum of RM120 over a period of 12 months, paid in advance, the housewife under SKSSR will receive various benefits such as a permanent disability benefit, a medical benefit, a morbid allowance, physical rehabilitation or dialysis facilities, a survivor pension, and funeral benefits,” said Sivakumar.

According to Socso chief executive Datuk Seri Dr Mohammed Azman Aziz Mohammed, there are an estimated three million women under the age of 55 who fall under the definition of “housewives” as prescribed by law.

“The definition of housewife is designed to be broad so as to cover all women.

“This is why we defined ‘housewife’ under the SKSSR as a woman, whether married or unmarried, who manages the household on a full-time or part-time basis, which includes a wife, a mother, a divorcee, a widow or a single mother,” said Azman.

SKSSR was implemented by the Human Resources Ministry on Dec 1 under the Housewives’ Social Security Act 2022 to provide social security protection to housewives, with Malaysia being the first country in this region and the fourth in the world to offer such a social protection scheme for housewives.

At the same event in which the Prime Minister also launched MyFutureJobs Career Carnival 2023, Sivakumar said the ministry is committed to creating more quality jobs for Malaysians.

“As of Dec 31, 2022, more than 294,044 of the 879,601 job seekers who registered with MYFutureJobs were successfully placed in new jobs,” said Sivakumar.