Over 42,000 out of jobs this year, says HR minister

KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 42,807 workers nationwide were reported to have lost their jobs from January to June 12 this year, says human resources minister R Ramanan.

He said statistics from the Social Security Organisation showed that business closures and company downsizing were the main causes of retrenchment, affecting 17,485 people or 40.85%.

“Kuala Lumpur recorded the highest number of job losses at 30% or 12,844 people, followed by Selangor with 12,360 people, and Johor, which recorded a job loss rate of 8.1% or 3,468 people,” he said during Question Time at the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was responding to Azman Nasrudin (PN-Padang Serai) on the extent to which automation and artificial intelligence (AI) had influenced the trend of company closures and downsizing in the Klang Valley.

He said AI was currently not a threat to employment, and that the workforce had to be equipped with AI-related skills to ensure that they are not left behind.

To a supplementary question from Rosol Wahid (PN-Hulu Terengganu), Ramanan said the perception of AI as the primary cause of job loss was inaccurate, as data indicated that retrenchments were mostly driven by business closures, voluntary separation schemes, and workforce downsizing.

He said Malaysia’s job market still showed a high demand for labour, with 605,168 job vacancies advertised through the MYFutureJobs portal since January, compared to 188,062 job seekers, including those who lost their jobs.

He said a TalentCorp study found that approximately 697,000 jobs were at risk of being affected by technological advancements and the green economy within the next three to five years if workers did not upskill themselves.