Budget 2022: JobStreet hopes for greater emphasis on building a ‘national workforce of the future’

Given the fast-evolving employment market due to digitisation and a shortage of qualified talents in emerging roles, JobStreet is hopeful that the upcoming Budget 2022 would focus on upskilling and creating a ‘national workforce of the future’.

JobStreet Malaysia, a subsidiary of SEEK, is also looking forward to deeper collaboration with the Malaysian Government to progressively build a ‘digital first’ workforce.

Its Managing Director Vic Sithasanan (pic above) said that given the rising demand for digital tools and processes, there is an urgent need for Malaysians to appreciate the need to continuously upskill themselves with digital technologies, digital literacy, and transferable skills.

“With automation and digital technology having disrupted the job market, traditional roles are fast disappearing while roles involving the ‘workforce of the future’ are fast emerging,” said Vic, adding that JobStreet is expecting training and technology-enabled learning initiatives to be announced within Budget 2022.

Budget 2022 will be tabled in Parliament on Friday Oct 29.

At its end, JobStreet also believes in ‘standing by our SMEs’ and that businesses have a lot to gain from embracing digital technologies into their existing business models, which would improve productivity while opening up new revenue streams.

According to the University Consortium of Malaysia, SME productivity was boosted significantly through digitalisation, SMEs experienced a 26% increase in productivity through social media, and e-commerce saw SME productivity increase by 27%. On a more advanced level, using digital technologies for the backend such as data management solutions could increase SME productivity by up to 60%.

Vic said that digitisation is a critical element for business continuity, while having a ‘digital first’ workforce is just as critical for SMEs.

Standing by Malaysia through ‘thick and thin’

With the Malaysian economy now progressively recovering due to the loosening of restrictions, JobStreet also assured that it would stand by Malaysia through ‘thick and thin’ and play its part in rebuilding the economy – just as it had throughout the pandemic.

The company is today the country’s leading employment platform with the ‘most jobs’ and opportunities, with more than 30,000 employers offering more than 50,000 jobs through JobStreet.

Just a fortnight ago, JobStreet had organised its Virtual Career Fair 2021 – the largest of its kind in Malaysia – which emerged as a huge success with more than 500,000 visits and over 100 employers participating.

JobStreet would continue to introduce various initiatives to ensure that more Malaysians are gainfully employed.

The company recently launched the SME Incentive Helpdesk where businesses could reach out for clarification on the available incentives and relevant application information. As an independent and trusted job site, JobStreet aims to help Malaysian employers benefit from the available incentives. The JobStreet SME Incentive Helpdesk Hotline can be reached via 03-2778 9000.

Last month, as part of the JobStreet Business Springboard, the ‘Jom Apply Kerja’ initiative was launched to empower blue-collar jobseekers to return to work, and support employers in the F&B and retail sectors with their hiring needs.

This initiative follows on from its recent joint collaboration with the Human Resource Development Corporation (HRD Corp) to enable exclusive training incentives, to encourage companies to hire new talents. This collaboration is aimed at creating new job opportunities by helping companies manage total hiring and onboarding costs for business continuity.

Under this collaboration with HRD Corp, employers can claim up to RM3,600 (RM600 x 6 months) for training incentives, which would help to reduce the total cost of hiring new talent.

Source: JobStreet

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