“What is it doing? A few days ago, it announced that 320,000 jobs were created but today, we’re hit by the alarming statistic that unemployment increased from 4.5% to 4.8% in a span of a month,” Umno information chief Shahril Hamdan told FMT.

Earlier today, the Statistics Department revealed that unemployment increased from May to June, while employment in the same period dipped by 0.5%.

Labour force participation dropped from 16.10 million in May to 16.07 million in June.

“Since the start of the pandemic, many have lost their jobs and become self-employed, and this is among the hardest-hit group. The outlook for them is gloomy especially with restrictions on movement and the poor business sentiments.”

He said government statistics indicate that 10% of those who are unemployed have been out of work for a year.

“How are they going to get back on their feet? What is the NEC doing about this group?”

Shahril said a “radical” job guarantee programme was desperately needed to help the unemployed.

This programme, he said, would see the government identify jobs that can improve economic capacity and invest in these jobs by paying for the workers’ salaries.

“If the government can lay out its expenditure and show that it is not wasting money on frivolous things, I think Parliament will support increasing the debt ceiling to spend on a job guarantee programme.

“The NEC should be coming out with suggestions to resolve unemployment and engage with the public to get their buy-in for the proposals, but we’re not hearing anything.”

The government, he added, should spend meaningfully, rather than on initiatives that do not yield large-scale results.

Shahril called for the government to take a more inclusive and comprehensive approach to resolve the unemployment situation in the country, saying the mere reopening of the economy is too simple an approach and will not be enough.