KUALA LUMPUR: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) says Budget 2020 has taken into account the nation’s fast-changing demographics, the changing definitions of work and the work environment, as well as the issues surrounding social well-being in general.
EPF chief executive officer Tunku Alizakri Alias said the retirement savings fund was pleased that some of the social concerns it had raised had been heard by the government and was reflected in the budget with unique solutions to the unique issues pertaining to the well-being of Malaysians.”
He added that the EPF was honoured to be tasked with the administration of the Malaysians@Work initiative, with the different @Work programmes aimed at providing employment opportunities for key segments of the Malaysian workforce as well as reducing the country’s over-dependence on low-skilled foreign workers.
“Malaysians@Work is an important measure towards resolving critical talent issues in the country, such as low wages and high youth unemployment, especially among new graduates as well as enabling a return to work programme for women.
“What is also unique is that the various initiatives also include employers to actively be part of the solution.”
Tunku Alizakri said the implementation of Malaysians@Work would ensure that beneficiaries’ future retirement needs would be taken care of as the incentives would be delivered via EPF channels.
He said part of the incentive would be immediately made available to the recipients via a new withdrawal mechanism to be developed by EPF.
“We also note that a lot of money and effort is being spent on training foreign workers, investment which will be lost when they return to their countries,” said Tunku Alizakri.
He said if such training programme were to be channeled to Malaysians, this would ensure that the people investments would be retained in the country for the long term.
“The Malaysians@Work programme also enables the cost of hiring locals in key sectors to be cheaper than foreigners as employers’ EPF contributions for those individuals will be offset by the government incentive offered.”
On the expansion of education withdrawal, Tunku Alizakri said the proposal, which allowed EPF members to make withdrawals to fund their education from the certificate level onwards, was made in view of the need to quickly up-skill Malaysians with new competencies and skill sets to address the demands of a changing workforce environment.
“The expansion of the education withdrawal facility under Account 2 to members’ spouses and parents, also looks to extend the productivity of EPF members’ families.
“Members can opt to financially support their spouses or parents to enroll in continuous learning programmes and ensure self-sufficiency beyond retirement,” Tunku Alizakri said.
On social security coverage for all Malaysians, he said the rise of the gig economy, a general preference for younger workers to opt into the informal workforce, and an increasing number of workers and professionals under contract for services had resulted in the growth of the working population falling outside the social security system.
“To address this matter, the EPF is looking to extend EPF coverage to this under-served segment.
“The collaboration with the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas) to open this to the creative and performing arts industry, is definitely a good start.”
On the contribution programme for spouses the EPF has always acknowledged that women, irrespective of whether they have full-time careers or are housewives, as valuable and significant contributors to the economy.
Under this programme, the EPF provides an avenue for husbands to voluntarily transfer two per cent out of the minimum 11 per cent monthly EPF contribution into their wives’ EPF accounts.
“Women tend to shoulder the bigger part of the responsibility for care-giving duties in the family. Stable families improve productivity among workers, so wives should also enjoy some social security benefits,” said Tunku Alizakri.
Touching on the withdrawal for subfertility treatment, he said Malaysia’s ageing population, caused by a continuous trend of falling fertility rates, was expected to bring about healthcare and employment challenges.
“One of the ways to address this matter includes encouraging couples to have more children through medical assistance – yet costs of such treatments are extremely high, with in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatments ranging between RM4,000 and RM30,000 per cycle.
“Taking note of this, the EPF will be creating a new option under Account 2 for withdrawals for subfertility treatments”.
Tunku Alizakri said the EPF welcomed the opportunity to work closely with the Women, Family and Community Development, and the Health ministries in the implementation of the proposal.
“We recognise that children have direct and indirect benefits for families.
“Therefore the EPF is fully supportive, and will actively explore ways to balance the need between financial security and social well-being.”
Tunku Alizakri adds that next year’s budget supports the provident fund’s mission of ensuring that members achieved financial resilience upon retirement.
“The various programmes related to the EPF are indeed a big responsibility.
“However, we take it as a privilege to be able to play our part in creating a better Malaysia.
“We will be working with the respective ministries and agencies to implement these programmes and will make announcements in due course on the details of the implementation,” he said.