KUALA LUMPUR, June 5 — The wage subsidy programme introduced under the Prihatin stimulus package will continue for another three months, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced today.

When delivering the details of the Penjana economic regeneration plan, he said the initiative has already preserved over two million jobs that would otherwise have been lost due to measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

Employers may apply for the scheme that will pay out RM600 per worker for up to 200 of their employees.

The prime minister said the scheme was also open to businesses still prohibited from operating under the conditional movement order as well as those that have placed their staff on unpaid leave.

"However, the wage subsidies must be paid directly to their workers,” Muhyiddin said.

In its original guise, the subsidy payment was tiered.

Companies that employ more than 200 people received RM600 per retained worker, those with between 75 and 200 employees got RM800 each, and those with fewer than 75 employees were eligible for RM1,200 per worker.

However, Muhyiddin said the subsidy under the extension would be the same across the board as the economy has already been reopened in stages.

Earlier, the PM said unemployment in Malaysia is projected to rise from 3.9 per cent in March to 5.5 per cent in May, resulting in around 860,000 jobless Malaysians.