Over 90,000 SIP contributors laid off as of Nov 13 - Saravanan

KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 95,995 workers who contributed under the Employment Insurance System (SIP) have been laid off as of Nov 13, Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M Saravanan told the Dewan Rakyat today.

He said that of the total, 40,766 of the contributors were involved the aviation, hotel and tourism sectors.

"So far, RM110 million has been approved for payment to SIP applicants from these sectors… if there are any cases of non-payment, come and see me directly so that appropriate action can be taken,” he said when winding up the debate on the Supply Bill 2021.

Meanwhile, Saravanan said the government was targeting 500,000 job opportunities in an effort to overcome unemployment through the Employment Generation Guarantee Scheme (JanaKerja) as proposed under Budget 2021 with a RM3.7 billion allocation.

"To achieve this target, three initiatives under JanaKerja have been planned, where two of the initiatives have been entrusted to the Human Resources Ministry, namely the Hiring Incentive Programme under Socso and the Reskilling and Upskilling Programme under the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) and other ministries.

"...The Reskilling and Upskilling Programme provided under Socso and HRDF is expected to reduce the skill gap, especially in the field of digitalisation and other skills based on the development of Industrial Revolution 4.0,” he said.

The Dewan Rakyat sitting continues tomorrow.

-- BERNAMA