Job losses ease to 6,197 in June, says economy minister

KUALA LUMPUR: Job losses eased in June, with 6,197 workers losing their jobs as of June 22, compared with 7,766 in May, economy minister Akmal Nasir told the Dewan Rakyat.

Akmal said labour market conditions remained stable, but the government was taking the issue seriously because every job loss affects a household’s income and confidence in the economy.

He said the highest number of job losses so far this year was in January, when 10,658 workers were laid off.

“When we studied the trend, we found that many companies were undergoing year-end transitions and restructuring their businesses,” he said during the Ministers’ Question Time.

Akmal was replying to Syahir Che Sulaiman (PN-Bachok), who asked what the National Economic Action Council had done to deal with rising job losses and business downsizing caused by the energy crisis and global economic uncertainty.

He said the labour market remained stable, with the labour force rising to 17.33 million people in April, while the number of employed persons increased to 16.82 million.

Akmal said the unemployment rate was 2.9% in March and 3% in April, still below the 4% level generally seen as full employment.

He said the MyFutureJobs portal also recorded a 55% rise in job placements, from 12,119 in April to 18,756 in May.

This brought total job placements as of May to 62,644, he said.

Akmal said the government was focusing on helping SMEs stay open, as the current crisis was mainly due to supply problems rather than weak demand.

He said more than RM700 million had been approved for over 1,000 SMEs under Bank Negara Malaysia’s RM5 billion SME stabilisation relief facility as of June 18, with more than RM4 billion still available.

Akmal said the government had also provided another RM5 billion through Syarikat Jaminan Pembiayaan Perniagaan Bhd, while a RM710 million Progressive Acceleration for Capability and Employment (PACE) package had been set aside for employment protection, training and job matching.