Half the people in Sabah have something to do
Published on: Thursday, October 05, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: Some 1,927,100 people in Sabah are engaged in agriculture, hunting, forestry and fisheries, being the main contributors to the work force, followed by retail and automotive repairs and construction.Sabah Labour Department Principal Assistant Director in the Employment Services Division, Othman Abdullah (pic), said based on statistics, Sabah recorded a total population of 3,813,200 last year, compared to 3,471,000 in 2014. Of the figure, 5.4 per cent remained unemployed in 2016 compared to 4.6 per cent in 2014, this despite the increase in the number of employers with a total of 98,151 in 2016 compared to 80,492 in 2014.
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He said this when presenting his talk on the Impact, Challenges and Employment Scenario in Sabah in conjunction with the Sabah Labour Convention held for the first time by the Sabah Labour Department at the Tabung Haji Hotel, here, Tuesday. "Based on review done by JobStreet.com, about 68 per cent of fresh graduate unemployment is because they ask for unrealistic salary and benefits, while 64 per cent unemployment is due to poor command of the English language. "About 60 per cent are unable to land a job because they are choosy about the job or company, while some have poor communication skills, while 59 per cent remain jobless because of poor character, attitude and personality," he said. He said based on records by the Human Resources Department, there are 27,734 vacancies available in various industries in the State so far this year.
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"The Government has also conducted a total of 13,659 activities ranging from outreach programmes, employment carnivals, industrial training and open job interviews since January to August this year, just to help those who have not landed any job. "Yet the number of people without jobs, especially fresh graduates' remains high for a number of possible reasons, among them being the increase in the number of school and university graduates and implementation of the retirement age limit," he said.
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He said this has somehow or another contributed to global economic instability which results in companies closing, price hike, low manpower and lack of interest in the job offered. Another reason for unemployment is the unbalanced recruitment requirement set by the employers, the salary offered or requested is either too low or too high, the chances of going up the ladder is slim and qualification does not reach the job vacancy. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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