300,000 jobless youths in Q2

THERE are around 300,000 Malaysian youths aged between 15 and 24 who are unemployed as at the second quarter of this year, says the Human Resources Ministry.

It said the high unemployment rate is a global phenomenon that is also being faced by many countries.

“According to the Statistics Department, for the second quarter of 2023, the youth unemployment rate that covers the population segment aged 15 to 24 is at 10.7%, which is equivalent to 307,700 people.

“Although this percentage rate seems high, it should be emphasised that the unemployment rate in Malaysia as a whole is at 3.5%.

“In the economic sense, an unemployment rate of less than 4% is defined as full employment,” the ministry said in a written reply to Pang Hok Liong (PH-Labis).

Pang asked the ministry about the impact of unemployment among the youths, including the problem of the loss of talent among young Malaysians.

The ministry said in efforts to reduce the number of unemployment among the youths within this age bracket, it is calling on them to take advantage of the various career programmes that are available to them.

These included the Academy in Industry Programme for SPM graduates.

Youths who want to venture into skill-based careers can join the Career Building Programme for Informal Sector Workers where participants are provided a RM300 monthly allowance.

The TVET Career Empowerment Programme provides a RM600 monthly incentive for three months.

The Industrial Training Scheme and Future Workers Training programme could benefit unemployed youth aged 18 and above.

“The government is also managing programmes through TalentCorp in initiatives such as the Nurturing Expert Talent (MyNext), National Structured Internship Programme (MySIP) and Young Employable Student (YES).

“The MyNext-Future Youth Aspiration Graduate Marketability Grant (MyNext-FYA) focuses on intervention programmes in preparing graduates towards premium paid jobs (RM4,000 and above) as outlined by the Higher Education Ministry,” it added.