KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18 — The government has channelled a total of RM20.936 billion to 357,929 employers through the Wage Subsidy Programme (PSU) as at July 29, 2022, to maintain the employment of 2.96 million local workers.
Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said the effort was aimed at reducing the unemployment rate among Malaysian workers.
He said for PSU 1.0, a total of 322,177 employers and 2.64 million workers have received benefits under the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package (PRIHATIN) and the National Economic Recovery Plan (PENJANA) with approved wage subsidy applications reaching RM12.958 billion as of that date.
As for PSU 2.0, a total of RM1.408 billion had been channelled to 81,165 employers to continue operating and maintain the employment of 719,185 workers.
“Under PSU 3.0 as of the same period, a total of RM3.776 billion has been channelled to 162,317 employers to maintain the employment for 1.53 million workers.
“In fact, PSU 3.0 was also improved with the Malaysian Economic and Rakyat’s Protection Assistance Package (PERMAI), the Strategic Programme for Empowering the People and the Economy (PEMERKASA) and PEMERKASA Plus,” he said in the 107th Laporan Kewangan Rakyat issued today.
Elaborating further, Tengku Zafrul said for PSU 4.0 which was implemented under the National People’s Well-Being and Economic Recovery Package (PEMULIH), a total of RM2.577 billion had been channelled to 163,970 employers for them to continue operating and maintain the employment for 1.92 million workers as at July 29, 2022.
For PSU 5.0, a total of RM216.719 million has been distributed to 8,014 employers to enable them to continue operating and maintain the employment for 122,437 employees.
Meanwhile, Tengku Zafrul said a total of 40,095 personnel had successfully been placed in the public sector and government-linked companies (GLCs) through the Malaysia Short-term Employment (MySTEP) initiative programme as at Aug 5, 2022.
Out of the total, some 20,773 participants had been placed in the public sector while 119,322 personnel were placed in GLCs as well as other strategic partners, he said.
Tengku Zafrul also said that to ensure placement for youths with disabilities to venture into the job market, the government has also provided a special quota of one per cent placement opportunity for persons with disabilities (PWD) under the MySTEP programme.
“The government strongly encourages the PWD community to take this opportunity and apply to participate through the MySTEP portal,” he added.
