More than 6,000 people working for government-linked companies (GLCs) and government subsidiaries lost their jobs this year.

Of this number, the Finance Ministry told Parliament, 5,134 of those who are out of work were from GLCs.

A total of 4,682 were laid off from Malaysia Airlines Systems Bhd (MAS) and another two were terminated from the rebranded Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB).

Other GLCs that sacked or terminated contract workers were Affin Group (146 people); Boustead Holdings Bhd (151 people); and Chemical Company of Malaysia Bhd (153 people).

Meanwhile, another 1,036 employees were cut from Minister of Finance Inc companies.

Petronas let go of 1,000 employees, and 36 were terminated from Agrobank.

"The terminations were caused by factors, including a company shutting down operations, mergers and adjustments according to the current business climate.

"The companies have ensured that the workers involved were offered fair financial compensation based on their rights under their collective agreements," the ministry said in a written reply yesterday.

The ministry was responding to a question from Lim Lip Eng (DAP-Segambut) on the number of layoffs from GLCs and Finance Ministry Inc companies this year.