Chief Secretary to the Government Mohd Zuki Ali said that based on Public Services Commission statistics, the vacancies were in the Public Works Department and the Irrigation and Drainage Department.

He also said that 60% of the 1.5 million jobs to be created in the country are expected to require technical and vocational education and training (TVET) qualifications.

A total of 50,152 applications were for the position of scientists, 65,719 for researchers and 124,015 for community development officers, he said in conjunction with National Technical Profession Day 2020, held virtually today.

Zuki said RM1 billion allocated by the government through the 2021 budget was for upskilling and reskilling programmes.

“The government aims to improve labour productivity and create more opportunities for highly skilled jobs,” he said.

He said the Department of Statistics’ third quarter 2020 labour statistics projected that 179,000 vacancies were available in the private sector.

Of the total, 55.7% were in the semi-skilled category and 22.7% for skilled workers.