PARLIAMENT: MALAYSIA IS AT FULL EMPLOYMENT LEVEL

KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 (Bernama) -- Malaysia has reached full employment
level although it has about 421,800 unemployed people, which represents 3.4 per
cent of the population as of January this year, the House of Representatives was
told Thursday.

Human Resources Minister Dr S. Subramaniam said the figure put
Malaysia in full employment category based on the international standards which
stated that countries with an unemployment rate of below four per cent can be
regarded as having reached full employment.

"Although a country is said to have reached full employment, it doesn't mean
there aren't people who are without jobs," he said in reply to M. Kulasegaran, a
MP.

Kulasegaran wanted to know why Malaysia was declared as having reach full
employment although there were still many jobless individuals.

Subramaniam said there were several factors contributing to unemployment
including the lack of demand for certain field of studies, lacked of
communication skills such as the inability to speak and write in English,
prospective employees too choosy, insufficient information on employment
opportunities and the salary being offered did not match the cost of living.