Malaysia Records 40,680 Loss of Employment Cases as of August
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Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan said that 40,680 loss of employment (LOE) cases had been recorded in Malaysia as of August 2021, with an average of 5,811 cases every month.
Stopping further growth of LOE
He said the Social Security Organisation (SOCSO) 's Employment Insurance System is observing the LOE trend daily to provide protection to workers who have lost their jobs for several reasons.
According to SOCSO, the definition of LOE includes:
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Regular retrenchment and redundancy,
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Mutual or voluntary separation schemes (MSS/VSS),
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Company closure because of natural disasters, bankruptcy, etc.
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Resignation due to sexual harassment or threats made at the workplace,
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Constructive dismissal, and
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Resignation after being assigned to perform dangerous tasks that are not within the job scope.
The minister said that the Covid-19 pandemic had not only affected people's wellness but also created an economic crisis for countries around the world.
Saravanan said that the government took measures to curb the virus transmission, which resulted in companies' closures, and workers losing jobs or working with reduced salaries.
He said since March 2020, the government had taken several measures to alleviate the people's burden and ensure businesses can continue operating to avoid massive retrenchment exercises. One of the measures includes launching the National People's Well-Being and Economic Recovery Package (Pemulih) in June 2021.
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SOSCO regularly updates employment statistics on its EIS Centre website.
Programmes to help workers
An agency under the Human Resources Ministry, Socso is responsible for implementing Pemulih programmes, including:
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The Wage Subsidy Programme 4.0,
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SIP Prihatin 2.0,
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PenjanaKerjaya 3.0, and
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KerjayaGig.
SOCSO targeted these programmes at employers, workers, jobseekers and the self-employed.
The importance of the EIS
SOCSO's CEO, Datuk Seri Dr Mohammed Azman Aziz Mohammed, said that the organisation is increasing its efforts to improve protection for informal workers via proposed amendments to the legislative act.
He said SOCSO is looking to extend employment protection for self-employed persons under the Employment Insurance Act 2017. The Employment Insurance System (EIS) would provide a form of income replacement for the self-employed persons when the business is shut down or loss of income.
According to him, SOCSO is collaborating with Grab, Malaysia Digital Economy Corp (MDEC), and Happy Fresh to make the social contribution as part of the signup process of self-employed workers with these platforms.
This requirement will protect self-employed persons under a solid social security system at minimal costs.
Mohammed Azman also noted that just 12.3% of the 2.5 million self-employed persons are covered for employment injury. He added that there is a significant coverage gap where many self-employed persons are not aware of the basic protection they need.
The Statistics Department stated that only 14.8% of the 764,400 unemployed persons are covered by the EIS.
Mohammed Azman also said that as of August this year, 56 employment-related commuting accidents had occurred, and 597 accidents happened during non-working hours, which showed that the involved workers are not covered by EIS.
For workplace-related accidents, 567 cases were notified to SOCSO, of which 103 of them were non-employment injuries.
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