Govt approves RM12.76 bln of WSP aplications as of Feb 5 - Tengku Zafrul

KUALA LUMPUR: The government has approved RM12.76 billion of applications for the Wage Subsidy Programme (WSP) as of Feb 5, 2021, said Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz.

He said as of Sept 30, 2020 - the closing date of WSP 1.0 -- a total of 322,177 employers and 2.64 million employees have received the benefits under the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package (PRIHATIN) and the National Economic Recovery Plan (PENJANA).

“As for WSP 2.0 under KITA PRIHATIN, a total of RM770.31 million has been channelled to 65,398 employers to enable them to continue operating and maintain 534,183 employees.

“The government is aware that cash assistance alone is never sufficient. As such, under the Generating and Retaining Jobs strategy, several steps have been taken through close cooperation between the government and the industry,” he said in the 41st Implementation and Coordination Unit Between National Agencies (LAKSANA) report today.

These include the creation of the MyFutureJobs portal https://www.myfuturejobs.gov.my/ which offers more than 200,000 job opportunities to job seekers, as well as candidate and industry matching process.

The Ministry of Human Resources’ National PenjanaKerjaya Carnival 2021 is also scheduled to take place from Feb 23 - 26 -- an online event that will bring together employers from all over the country for interview sessions to hire new employees, he said.

Interested participants can register via the link https://careerfair.perkeso.gov.my.

The government is also focusing on creating more than 160,000 new jobs this year through committed investments, which will be monitored by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry and its agency, Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), the minister said.

Meanwhile, Tengku Zafrul said as of Feb 5, a total of 130,871 employees had secured employment through the Hiring Incentive and Training Assistance Programme.

Additionally, 133,301 participants had been approved to participate in the Reskilling and Upskilling Programme.

-- BERNAMA