Workforce With Certified Skills Must Be Increased On Urgent Basis, Says Muhyiddin

PETALING JAYA, Oct 17 (Bernama) -- The percentage of the workforce with certified skills in Malaysia should be increased on an urgent basis, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today.

He said that it was of utmost important as currently about 72 per cent of Malaysia's workforce were with low or without any skills.

"Malaysia needs to develop its human resources with the right and relevant knowledge as well as ideas to achieve the objectives of Vision 2020," he said at the Malaysian Employers' Federation (MEF) annual dinner.

The text of his speech was read out by Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussin.

Muhyiddin said certification will pave the way for the country's smooth shift from labour-intensive industries to a higher value-added economy.

He said a skilled and certified workforce will, in the long-term, wean Malaysia off its dependence on foreign workers.

"The strategy is to mainstream and improve accordingly technical education and vocational training. Plans are underway to increase the number of diploma programmes in public universities, especially in technical universities," he said.

The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that education was an important catalyst for industry transformation.

In this regard, he said, the government has taken a bold step by comprehensively reviewing and revamping the education system so that the future generation will transform into a thinking, problem-solving and innovative workforce.

"In short, the government acknowledges the need to prepare the future generation and the workforce, physically and intellectually, for highly-niche jobs or jobs that are yet to exist today," he added.

Meanwhile, MEF President Tan Sri Azman Shah Haron said besides issues such as minimum wages and the global economic challenges facing employees, the federation was very concerned with the lack of skilled workers in the country.

He said approximately 107,000 Malaysians joined the labour force at the lowest entry level every year without any certified skills whatsoever.

The federation felt in order for Malaysia to be productive and competitive the skills of its employees must be certified.