IPOH, June 11 — The Perak government has allocated RM4.3 million for the Workforce Transformation Programme to help 1,500 people who lost their jobs due to the movement control order to contain Covid-19.
Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu said that the first phase of the programme under the state Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) committee will be implemented for three training scheme categories.
“The first category is the Workforce Transition Training followed by Workforce Retention Scheme and lastly Skill Improvement Training,” he told a press conference at his office in the State Secretariat Building.
Under the first category, he said that the scheme focuses on re-skilling individuals who have lost their jobs in order to place them in industries which offer employment opportunities.
“Through this scheme, participants will undergo a one-month short training with an allowance of RM500,” he said.
Ahmad Faizal said that the Workforce Retention Scheme is a state government mitigation measure to help preserve jobs, especially in the tourism, services and manufacturing sectors.
“Under this scheme, the state government will allocate RM500 to employers to retain each of their workers on a conditional basis.
“Participants of this scheme will also undergo three months of add-on skills beginning July 2020. This initiative not only helps reduce employers' operating costs, but also contributes to the long-term productivity of the company as a result of the increased workforce participation in the scheme,” he explained.
While for the last category, he said that the scheme is specially offered to tour guides and beach boys to help them diversify their existing skills (up-skilling) in the face of the new Covid-19 post-pandemic norms.
“Each participant will receive a training allowance of RM800 during the two month training period beginning June 22. The program will be carried out in stages and targets 200 participants.
“Applications for this training scheme will be open online starting June 15 and can also apply manually via the registration form which will be distributed by the State TVET Committee and the Perak Children's Aspiration Center (Pasak),” he added.
Ahmad Faizal said his administration gave serious attention to issues related to workers’ retirement and joblessness, and will continue to work with agencies such as the Human Resources Department (JTK), the Social Security Organisation (Socso) and the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority to resolve related problems.
