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KOTA KINABALU: A group in Sabah says employers cannot afford to pay RM1,500 to hire new workers, as proposed under the Penjana 2.0 hiring incentive programme, and wants the government to review the ruling.

As part of the programme, which runs until June, the government is subsidising RM600 of the RM1,500 for six months but after that, the employers will need to pay the full amount on their own.

Sabah and Labuan National Dual Training System (NDTS) Skills Training Centre Association exco member Nelson Mosinoh said the proposal does not make sense as the current national minimum wage is RM1,200.

He told FMT while he understands the government’s rationale that employees should be paid a higher salary, “now is not the time as it is not helping the dying small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at all”.

“In the end, Sabah will lose out by not being able to tap into the billions of ringgit allocated for this initiative simply because it cannot fulfil the terms set by the finance ministry.”

The RM2 billion Penjana Kerjaya programme was announced by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin under the National Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana) in June last year.

It is expected to benefit some 250,000 job seekers through the provision of incentives for employers to hire new staff. Under the programme, employers will get 40% of a new employee’s income from the government for six months capped at RM4,000 a month.

Mosinoh said workers in small firms spared from retrenchment and earning RM1,200 for the past two years would feel “cheated” if their employers were to employ new staff with a higher salary.

“Where is the fairness and logic in implementing this initiative?” he asked.

He said SMEs in Sabah could not afford to pay RM1,500, inclusive of fixed allowance, as their counterparts in the peninsula. “With limited capital to work on to stay afloat, the wage is not a solution.

“The cost of doing business here and paying a salary of more than RM1,200 for operation-level positions is just too high.”

He urged chief minister Hajiji Noor, who is also the state finance minister, to speak to the federal finance ministry to relook the terms to suit the needs of Sabah SMEs.

“Change the terms, it cannot be the same in Sabah as in the peninsula. And it has to happen fast as the cut-off period to apply for this incentive is June. After that, employers would be in a bind,” he said.

Mosinoh also said the condition set for a hiring scheme that encourages companies to hire unemployed graduates and secondary school leavers aged 30 years and below as apprentices is troublesome.

He said while the government will subsidise up to RM1,000 of the salary, with only a minimum wage of RM1,200 set, a company may only be able to apply for the scheme if the worker has never contributed to Socso.

“Let’s say I had been working before and contributing to Socso but have been jobless for years, I still won’t be eligible as I have contributed to Socso previously. This is unfair.

“I have more than 150 people in my database looking for jobs but after I cross-checked with Socso, fewer than 10 are qualified,” he said.

Source: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2021/03/11/rm1500-to-hire-new-workers-too-much-says-sabah-association/