Ensuring Unemployment Rate Does Not Reach 4 Per Cent

PUTRAJAYA (Malaysia), July 18 (Bernama) -- The Human Resources Ministry will ensure that the unemployment rate in Malaysia will not go up to four per cent. Its minister Richard Riot Jaem said the country’s unemployment rate currently was at 3.5 per cent, up from 3.4 per cent last year. “The ministry will ensure the rate will not continue to rise. This is because countries with unemployment rates of four per cent and below are considered having full employment.” Riot said this to reporters after officiating at a seminar on ‘Labour Market Information: Trends and Challenges’ and Labour Market Information Data Warehouse (LMIDW) project, here, Tuesday. The LMIDW is a central data base for labour market information. It supports the Big Data Analytics covering information on labour market indicators across various ministries and agencies. The data in the LMIDW include identified graduates and employers, job vacancies, data on competent people and industrial accidents. Riot also expressed confidence that Malaysia would reach its target of having 35 per cent skilled workers by 2020, from 31 per cent currently and 28 per cent in 2015. -- BERNAMA