Sarawak needs 30,000 skilled workers annually to meet 2030 target, says ministry

KUCHING (Sept 23): Sarawak must produce 30,000 skilled workers annually to achieve its target of 500,000 skilled workers by 2030, said Ministry of Education, Innovation and Talent Development (MIETD) deputy permanent secretary Anielia Siam.

Speaking at the Briefing on Sarawak Workforce programme today, she revealed that the current skilled workforce in Sarawak is more than 200,000 people.

“So we are far from that 500,000. This year we are in 2024, so that becomes alarming for us at the ministry. As you see, one of our core functions is talent development.

“So what we are looking at is that every year, mathematically, Sarawak must produce 30,000 skilled workers,” she said at the event, which she officiated on behalf of Education, Innovation and Talent Development Deputy Minister Datuk Francis Harden Hollis.

She also emphasised that getting foreign workers to fill jobs in industries is not a sustainable option for Sarawak.

“You (the industries) can support us by telling us, well, for the time being, immediate and short term, maybe we go for foreign workers. But that is not sustainable. That is not what we want. What we want is to ensure that this work, this job, is secured and owned by our fellow Sarawakians,” she stressed.

According to her, one of the talent policy efforts by the MIETD is to upskill local workers.

She called on the industries to provide MIETD with the skill sets needed by them for the upskilling of workers, to meet the current demands such as advanced economy, industrial revolution (IR 4.0) and hydrogen economy and others.

“We are encouraging, even looking for more partnerships with the industry, the academia together with us in this sector,” she said.

On a related matter, she also informed the Briefing on Sarawak Workforce programme will be escalated to Sarawak Workforce Conference.

She also thanked those industries which have participated in the Sarawak Workforce Information System (SWIS), to generate workforce statistics for the purpose of manpower planning for Sarawak.

Among those present at the event were Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) Sarawak director Dr Mazlina Shafi’i and Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) Sarawak director Dayang Rozana Abang Hassan.