KOTA BARU: One of the factors causing a high rate of unemployment Kelantan, which stood at 4.1 per cent as of February, was because the people in the state were selective about jobs.
Kelantan Social Security Organisation (Socso) director Nora Yaacob said the Department of Statistics Malaysia's data showed that the unemployment rate in the state was rather high compared with the country's overall unemployment rate which stood at 3.6 per cent.
She said many people in Kelantan were quite selective when it came to jobs and were unwilling to leave the state for jobs.
She said many people in the state also preferred to work for themselves and this led to a high unemployment rate of 4.6 per cent in December last year, 4.4 per cent in January and 4.1 per cent in February.
"To lower the unemployment rate, we will try to get those who are unemployed to return to formal jobs.
"We are proposing on getting as many jobs as possible.
"The goal or aim of jobs for this year is 6,800. Last year we managed to get 5,000 individuals who were given jobs," said Nora at the state Socso's Hari Raya Aidilfitri at Wisma Socso here today.
She said that through the Madani career incentive by the government, they would strive and work hard towards lowering the unemployment rate by organising career fairs and carnivals.
"Through such career initiatives, a financial incentive of RM600 a month for three months will be provided to employers who take in new workers from among individuals or youths who have been unemployed for a long time, as well as vulnerable groups such as Orang Asli, women, the very poor and destitute, individuals on parole, former convicts, persons with disabilities and Technical and Vocational Education and Training graduates.
"To further boost the potential of individuals working under the informal sector to procure formal jobs, they will be given training through career building programmes," said Nora.