KUALA LUMPUR, May 9 — A total of 270,000 new job opportunities were created within eight months after the Pakatan Harapan (PH) took over the country’s administration, Dewan Negara was told today.

Deputy Human Resources Minister Datuk Mahfuz Omar said this figure exceeded the government’s initial target, which estimated creating 240,000 jobs in a year.

"This is based on the data from the Statistics Department, whereby the target was achieved between July last year to February this year,” he said during the question-and-answer session at Dewan Negara here today.

He was replying to a question by Senator Sabani Mat who wanted to know the government’s plans to create one million job opportunities as promised in PH’s manifesto.

Mahfuz however said the government’s challenge today was not just to achieve the targeted quantity, but to create quality and skill jobs which paid high wages.

"We have to take these factors into consideration, otherwise these jobs will be filled by foreign workers.

"That is why the government is always providing incentives for high-value jobs or knowledgeable workers with the right skills,” he said, adding that going by the current performance, the government was confident of creating one million jobs in five years.

Mahfuz added the government also encouraged employers to absorb industrial training (internship) employees in their organisations. — Bernama