Give Priority To Local Employees First - Malaysian PM Najib

PUTRAJAYA, May 1 (Bernama) – Prime Minister Najib Razak has urged employers to prioritise on local workforce to fill job vacancy in helping the government to materialise its five core areas in the Workers Transformation Leap. He said the government would organise the Job Fair @ UTC 2.0, to be launched on a large scale on May 20 at 11 Urban Transformation Centres (UTC) and four JobsMalaysia Centres nationwide, offering about 20,000 job vacancies from 300 employers. “Do give chance to Malaysian workers, if possible. Don't just offer jobs to foreigners. Give priority to the local workers,” he said followed by thunderous applause from the 5,000-strong crowd who came to listen to his 2017 Workers' Day speech here Monday. Najib said one of the emphasis in the Workers Transformation Leap was to empower employment services public agency, in which the government was now reviewing the roles of JobsMalaysia Centre so that it would be more interactive, effective, customer-friendly and could act as the facilitator in job matching between job seekers and employers. The prime minister also launched the OKU (persons with disabilities) Talent Enhancement Programme (OTEP) under the transformation programme to enhance the skills and employability of the group. Najib said, for a start, Sentoria Group Bhd and Mydin Mohamed Holdings Bhd had recruited 88 and 66 OKUs respectively, to be trained in various skills to meet the industry requirements. In his message, the Prime Minister also shared a success story of an OKU, Noorazizah Muhammad Zambri, who succeeded in running her business, Ariff Kasturi Enterprise, and hired seven OKU workers via a grant amounting to over RM52,000 under the OKU Business Incentive Assistance Scheme. On the second transformation leap, namely to optimise human capital as well as to strengthen policy planning and salary system, Najib said the government was now promoting the practice of the Productivity-Linked Wage System (PLWS). He said such a measure was to overcome the income gap among the society and to strengthen the salary system in the private sector in ensuring that the increase in salaries corresponding to productivity. “Almost 81,000 employers, involving approximately 3.5 million workers, have applied the PLWS as of April 2017. "The government hopes that the target of 85,000 employers to implement the PLWS which will benefit about 3.7 million workers by 2020, will be achieved,” he said. Najib said the government was in the midst of developing the National Wage Index (NWI), to be completed by July, as a benchmark to help the employers to determine the wage levels of their employees that corresponds to qualification, skills and productivity. “I would like to suggest to the employers and industry players to apply the PLWS, NWI and payroll handbook...If the workers’ salaries commensurate with (their) qualifications, experience and productivity, this will certainly boost the competitiveness of (a particular) industry,” he said. On the human capital aspect, the Prime Minister said the government would continue to strengthen its collaboration with the private sector in providing a conducive working environment for female employees, including reviewing maternity leave, as well as paternity leave for eligible male workers. The efforts by the government bore fruit when the number of female participation in the labour market increased by almost 10 per cent to 54.3 per cent last year, compared to only 45.8 per cent in 2006, he said . Najib also drew attention to the initiative by Maybank which allowed its female employees to go on maternity leave for up to a year. Under the transformation leap on the technical and vocational education and training (TVET), he said over 80 per cent of TVET students had secured employment within six months after graduating. As for the transformation leap on prioritising the welfare and well-being of workers and vulnerable groups, Najib said several measures had been taken including the implementation of the national minimum wage policy. According to the prime minister, statutory inspections on more than 121,000 employers revealed that that 98 per cent of them had complied with the minimum wage policy while the remaining two per cent had been slapped with the notice of compliance. Under the programme in recognising the experience and expertise of skilled workers via the Recognition of Prior Achievement (PPT) method, almost 125,000 employees had been certified in various skills which could indirectly improve their livelihood, he said. -- BERNAMA