Choose Skills Over Qualifications for Better Salary, HR Minister Tells Workers

M. Kulasegaran, Human Resources Minister has advised workers in Malaysia to attend skills training courses, said having the right skills could earn them 20% higher pay.

He remarked that any Malaysian who can read and write is qualified to attend a skills training program at any Technical Vocational Educational Training (TVET) institute. “Most of these TVET institutes teach basic skills. You don’t really need an academic qualification,”  the minister said.

“We are seeking to focus 70% on training and 30% course work,” he said, noting that only 28% of the total workforce in Malaysia is skilled whereas in nations such as Singapore the percentage may be as high as 50%.

“That doesn’t speak well at all. No country can be developed, no country can thrive unless a large part of the workforce is skilled. These are big challenges that we have, and we hope over time we can do it,” he said.

Achieving the 35% Skilled Workforce Target

Under the 11th Malaysia Plan which expires next year, the objective is to get 35% of the workforce skilled. “This is one of the trials that I have. I hope I can achieve good reasonable figures. We might not reach the magical figure of 35% but we will get there somewhere.

“Now I’m trying to fast-track the whole issue and give priority to it,”  Kulasegaran said.

The minister said one of his ministry’s hurdles is the hesitation of some employers to send their workers for training to level up their skill sets, either for fear they will lose their employees or because they are not ready to give them unrecorded leave. The employees, on their part, don’t realise why they should go for skilling, he remarked.

“Now we are going to provide special incentives to those who want to be skilled. So we expect we can do that to transform the whole process,” he added

Source: The Sun Daily

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