KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 15 — Malaysia needs to gear towards having 50 per cent competent and highly-skilled workers by 2020 to keep the competitive edge in the quest to become a high-income economy, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Idris Jala said.
He said ironically, highly-skilled workers accounted for only 25.5 per cent of 12.7 million workers in the country.
Asserting that focus and competitiveness are the main ingredients towards achieving a high-income economy, he said, “We need to focus on areas that we could become global champions and the government has chosen 12 National Key Economic Areas to focus on.”
Idris, who is also Performance Management and Delivery Unit Chief Executive Officer, said to be competitive we need enablers in forms of talents and manpower.
He said being competitive is of paramount importance in order to attract foreign and local investments.
Hence, Malaysia needs to create a conducive atmosphere in order for competitiveness to flourish, he said in his keynote address at the launch of Talent Corporation Malaysia’s (TalentCorp) HR Network here today.
HR Network focuses on four areas of importance to the national talent agenda diversity and inclusiveness, human resource capability, leadership development, and graduate employability.
At the event, Idris witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between TalentCorp and training providers of human resource professional certificates accredited by the Australian Human Resource Institute, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the Malaysian Institute of Human Resource Management, and the Society of Human Resource Management.
TalentCorp Chief Executive Officer Johan Mahmood Merican said the professional certification would be a catalyst in raising the bar in the country’s human resource profession in line with initiatives to strengthen HR standards. — Bernama
