According to Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, Malaysia must invest in lifelong learning and continual personal development for its workers to stay competitive in the global market.
Despite recent setbacks, Malaysia is experiencing economic stability, with a workforce participation rate of 70.1% as of July 2023, he added. To keep the momentum going, the King underlined the need of investing in the country’s capabilities and workers.
Al-Sultan Abdullah praised the Human Resources Ministry and the Human Resources Ministry Development Corporation (HRD Corp). He highlights their roles in developing policies and implementing mechanisms for training and training funding to assist this growth and recovery. He additionally emphasised the ministry’s establishment of programmes aimed at offering upskilling, employment, placement, and income-generation opportunities to disadvantaged groups. For example, single mothers, former criminals, senior citizens, and persons with disabilities.
“With the initiatives put forward by the ministry and the collective efforts of industry players, I am confident that we can achieve our goal of having a 35% skilled workforce by 2030,” he added.
He also acknowledged the influence of a health crisis on people’s lives, education, companies, and industries, which resulted in a paradigm shift in which organisations with swiftly adapting and flexible abilities pushed into new paths and prospered during these difficult times.
According to the New Straits Times, Al-Sultan Abdullah also emphasised South-East Asia’s development rate, which outpaces worldwide norms, and ascribed this success to the region’s diversified and youthful workforce, with a share under the age of 30.
