Ministry proposes State Talent Policy to increase Sarawak’s workforce efficiency, reduce unemployment

MIRI (Oct 14): The Ministry of Education, Innovation, and Talent Development has proposed a State Talent Policy to increase efficiency in Sarawak’s workforce and reduce the unemployment rate.

Minister Dato Sri Roland Sagah Wee Inn stated that the policy will define the Sarawak government’s role, through his ministry, in fostering, attracting, and retaining talent to support Sarawak’s 2030 aspirations.

“The policy also outlines strategies and initiatives that call for strong collaboration between the public and private sectors, ensuring that our talent pool aligns with the needs of key industries, driving Sarawak’s economic transformation agenda,” he said when officiating at the Sarawak Workforce briefing here today.

He said the ministry’s vision includes increasing worker efficiency by boosting Technical and Vocational Education and Training (Tvet) enrolment by 20 per cent, reducing the unemployment rate by 1.2 per cent, and increasing science enrolment by 40 per cent by 2025.

Sagah said there are no limitations to the development of Sarawak’s workforce, with the government continuously seeking new opportunities, particularly in the new economy.

“Apart from the new economy, there is a growing demand for technical workers, especially in renewable energy, biotechnology, microelectronics, and the maritime industry.

“To meet this demand, additional training centres have been established by state-owned institutions, including Sarawak Skills and Centex, to provide training courses that fulfil job market needs,” he said.

He stressed the importance of discovering, nurturing, and developing young talents to be the next key drivers in Sarawak’s economy.

Sagah noted that one of his ministry’s core focuses is to empower young talents with technical backgrounds.

“Statistical data from state’s Pocket Stats 2024 shows that the number of skilled workers decreased from 23 per cent in 2021 to 21 per cent in 2022.

“This where the state-owned institutions such as Sarawak Skills and Cextexs play a critical role in providing required skills and competencies, assuring that all technical workers possess minimum of Malaysian Skills Certificate (SKM) level 1 and level 2 certificates in qualifying them for technical roles,” he said.

On the briefing, Sagah said it provides an opportunity for sharing Sarawak’s workforce status, skill requirements of workforce for industries, workforce training framework, and workforce levy for training and upskilling.

He said this is important to discover the strengths and opportunities of Sarawak’s workforce, understand workforce challenges, and explore the interventions and strategies to overcome workforce challenges in building a sustainable and thriving economy.

A total of 160 participants from private and state-owned institutions; industry representatives from manufacturing, construction, agriculture, and services sectors; as well as various industry associations attended the briefing.

The programme was jointly organised by the Ministry of Education, Innovation and Talent Development Sarawak and Sarawak Skills.