KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 — The national unemployment rate between 2000 and 2017 never exceeded a low 3.7 per cent.

Deputy Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Abd Muttalib said this proved that the country was not facing a serious unemployment problem, but was instead fully utilising its workforce.

"For almost 20 years, the national overall rate of unemployment has been below 3.5 per cent. Only in 2003 was the employment rate at 3.6 per cent and in 2009, it was 3.7 per cent.

"This percentage shows that the nation is not faced with a serious unemployment problem as countries with four per cent was considered as having an unemployment issue,” he said in reply to a supplementary question from Datuk Kamarul Baharin Abbas (PKR-Telok Kemang) in the Dewan Rakyat sitting today.

He said besides the commitment to tackle unemployment among graduates through initiatives like highly-skilled training, the government was also serious about addressing the needs of workers whose employment had been terminated.

He said a total of RM122 million had been allocated under the Employment Insurance Scheme (SIP) to help unemployed people get new jobs including through skills training provided by the ministry. — Bernama