GOVT PROVIDING TRAINING TO FILL 24,937 JOB VACANCIES

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 (Bernama) -- The Manpower Department is providing
training for the selected candidates who will fill the 24,937 job vacancies
available in various categories.

Human Resource Minister Dr S. Subramaniam said this was part of the
National Employment Campaign programme launched Monday to solve the unemployment
problem faced by school-leavers, graduates and those who had lost their jobs.

"The ministry aims to fill all the job vacancies before the end of this
month," he said after launching the campaign where six companies, including
Giant, Carrefour, Mydin and Bank Rakyat, held open interviews to fill 1,276 job
vacancies.

Dr Subramaniam said the Manpower Department had appointed 300 training
facilitators to train people in 80 types of skills required by industries, with
the training taking three to six months.

"With this, we hope those who accuse the government of not providing
employment will grab this opportunity to fill the vacancies and hone their
skills to meet the requirements of industries."

Dr Subramaniam said the job vacancies would be advertised from tomorrow in
the major newspapers and on television, besides at www.JobsMalaysia.gov.my and
the open interviews at 85 Manpower Department offices nationwide.

"With this campaign, we hope the problem of 450,700 unemployed in the
country in the first quarter of this year alone can be resolved."

However, he admitted that it was not easy to get those who had lost their
jobs, school-leavers and graduates to fill up the vacancies as they had to first
undergo three to six months of training.

"The government has provided the opportunities but there are not many
takers. That is why we need to be more aggressive and proactive in our
employment awareness campaign," he said.
-- BERNAMA