The manpower situation in the country is expected to further strengthen in the second half of this year with the economic situation regaining its momentum after the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) was enforced, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan said despite the negative trend in the supply of labor until May this year, the situation had improved.

“After RMCO was enforced on June 10, the economy regained its momentum, with jobs maintained, creation of new jobs and recruitment of workers," he said during the oral question and answer session.

He said this was due to the implementation of various stimulus packages by the government, apart from the various economic sectors allowed to operate during the RMCO.

Saravanan was responding to a question from Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (PH-Port Dickson) who wanted to know the projected national unemployment rate and the estimated number of unemployed people in the country until end of this year, as well as the steps taken by the ministry to overcome the surge in unemployment rate.

He said based on statistics by the Department of Statistics, as of last June 2, about 12.7 million or 83.5 percent of employees have started working compared to 10.2 million or 67.2 percent on May 17.

On the unemployment rate, he said it increased to 5.3 percent in May compared to 5 percent a month earlier.

“The Department of Statistics estimated the maximum range of the unemployment rate this year to be 3.5 per cent to 5.5 per cent,” he said, adding that the most affected employment sectors are tourism, manufacturing and services, as well as the self-employed, including traders and small entrepreneurs.

-- BERNAMA