Jufitri Joha

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 -- The government has to provide more incentives under the Locals@Work programme to attract more locals especially the youths to take up employment in the 3D sector which is difficult, dirty and dangerous.

Malaysian Youth Council (MBM) president Jufitri Joha said many Malaysians are willing to go to Singapore to work in the sector everyday because the incentives offered in the country are more attractive.

“Therefore the government and the construction and 3D sector employers should discuss reasonable salaries for workers in the sector in line with the cost of living and provide various incentives like insurance and overtime payment.

“Employers should expose workers to training scheme to change their attitude to work hard and improve their skills,” he told Bernama.

Locals@Work is a hiring cost equalisation programme aimed at shifting dependence from low-skilled foreign workers, as announced by the government in its Budget 2020 presentation yesterday.

It is among four programmes to be introduced under Malaysian@Work initiative which would be launched by the government to create better employment opportunities for youths and women and reduce dependency on low-skilled foreign workers.

Under the programme, Malaysians who replace foreign workers would be given an incentive of between RM350 to RM500 a month for two years according to the sector while employers would enjoy an incentive of RM250 a month for the same period.

Three other programmes under Malaysian@Work are Graduates@Work, Women@Work and Apprentice@Work. 

On Graduates@Work programme, Jufitri said the measure was appropriate to eradicate the glut of unemployed graduates but the government should focus on resolving the issue.

Graduate@Work is designed to recruit graduates who have been unemployed for more than 12 months and the graduate will receive an incentive salary of RM500 per month for two years in addition to the salary earned.

National Bersatu Youth exco, Muzammil Ismail said Budget 2020 has given attention to youths especially fresh graduates through Graduates@Work, Apprentice@Work and Locals @Work programmes.

“The emphasis of the government on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) under Apprentice@Work in this budget, should see an effort to raise the marketability of fresh graduates, and I believe Malaysia could emulate Germany in the effort to market TVET graduates,” he said.

-- BERNAMA