KUALA LUMPUR: The Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with six employers associations on the latest amendment of the Pembangunan Sumber Manusia Berhad (PSMB) Act 2001.
This would encourage more companies to register with HRDF to up-skill and re-skill their employees, as Malaysia progresses towards a high-income nation status in 2020.
The six employer associations which came on board with the HRDF to boost skilled workforce were Associated Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Malay Chamber of Commerce Malaysia, SME Association of Malaysia, Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers, Malaysian Associated Indian Chamber of Commerce and Malaysian Employers Association.
Present at the signing ceremony was Human Resources Minister, Datuk Seri Richard Riot who said the expansion of the PSMB Act 2001, which came to effect on April 1 this year, was a crucial step towards boosting the competencies of Malaysian talent.
He said the expansion not only streamlined the criteria for Malaysian employers across all sub-sectors within the manufacturing, service and mining and quarrying sectors within a minimum of 10 local employees, but also encourages companies in these sectors with fewer employees to voluntarily register with HRDF.
"Currently out of 14.8 million Malaysian workforces, 31 per cent (4.6 million) are considered skilled.
"We have another three more years to upgrade the skills of about 700,000 Malaysian workers to hit the 35 per cent skilled workforce target," he said during his speech before witnessing the signing of the MOU.
He believes that the target could be achieved together if employers associations work together with the ministry.
"Employers association should play a part to ensure all their members are registered with HRDF to allow training programmes and also contribute towards the up-skilling and re-skilling of our workers," he said.
He added that the target percentage that Malaysia has for skilled workers was relatively low compared to Asian countries like Japan and Korea (64 per cent) and Singapore (52 per cent).
"With better and more cooperations from employers association, I believe that we can achieve more than the targeted amount."
With the expansion of the PSMB Act, 2.8 million Malaysians will be eligible for training under the HRDF by 2020.
HRDF’s chief executive officer, Datuk Vignaesvaran Jeyandran said that as of May 2017, there are 19,122 HRDF registered employers across the three major sectors.