by Nazli Ibrahim
SHAH ALAM, Jan 2 — The Selangor government aims to reduce the unemployment rate by 2.5 per cent from the current rate of 2.8 per cent, says state Youth, Sports Development and Human Resource Development committee chairman Mohd Khairuddin Othman.
Mohd Khairuddin said reducing the unemployment rate would be the committee’s main agenda for the year.
“Job opportunities are very important and there should be a joint effort with all other departments within the state to ensure that this unemployment issue is handled well.
“The state government is taking several initiatives to ensure that this is achieved before 2021, such as holding more career fairs across Selangor. The state administration will also focus on organising job fairs at a larger scale at the state level and have smaller events held in state districts.
“I am confident that with the efforts and job opportunities created, we can achieve our target,” he said at the Selangor New Year 2020 celebrations at the Merdeka Square here on New Year’s Eve.
Apart from organising job fairs, the state government would take several other initiatives to improve the development of youth economy, such as conducting courses and training under the human capital development committee, vocational training and career enhancement training programmes.
Meanwhile, Mohd Khairuddin said he hopes Selangor would be selected to host the Malaysian Games (Sukma) 2022, which will be decided by this month.
He said aside from Selangor, three other states were also offered to host the games, namely Penang, Kedah and Sabah.
Perak hosted 2018 Sukma and Johor will host the next edition in July 2020. Selangor, which last hosted the Sukma in 1998, hopes to reprise its role as the host of the country’s biggest sports festival in 2022.
Mohd Khairuddin had previously expressed his optimism that the state could realise its hopes due to its economic strength.
