Youth unemployment up, gov't coming up with a plan
Speaking at the launch of the Budget 2020 consultation session in Putrajaya today, Lim said employment among youths in 2018 was currently 10.9 percent, up from 9.9 percent in 2011.
He said this was much higher than the national employment rate of 3.4 percent.
Putrajaya is currently working on a plan to address growing unemployment among youths, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng (photo, above) said.
Speaking at the launch of the Budget 2020 consultation session in Putrajaya today, Lim said unemployment among youths in 2018 was currently 10.9 percent, up from 9.9 percent in 2011.
He said this was much higher than the national unemployment rate of 3.4 percent.
Broad goals for the government include helping half a million youths become employed.
”Being jobless can be demeaning and damaging to a person's self-esteem. Holding a job is not merely about fulfilling our personal economic needs but it also invests us with a sense of pride and purpose,” he said.
As for the rising cost-of-living issues, Lim said the government had succeeded in keeping the inflation rate in check in recent months and will come up with a cost-of-living index to help make better policies.
He reiterated that the government wanted to spend more but is still dealing with legacy issues such as 1MDB's debt.
”No country can lose RM150 billion without being hurt from it,” he said.
Budget 2020 will be tabled in Parliament on Oct 11.
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