Over 15,000 youths took advantage of Sabah govt job placement schemes, assembly told

KOTA KINABALU: A total of 15,554 youths, especially those unable to pursue tertiary studies, have secured jobs through various Sabah government-initiated programmes this year, the state assembly was told.

State Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Yakubah Khan said these programmes included the Sabah Talent Entrepreneurship Programme (STEP), technology-based entrepreneurship scouting programme PitchBorneo, and various skills and development training courses.

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He said there were also hospitality engagement learning programmes done in collaboration with selected five-star hotels, career carnivals, the Sabah Jobs Portal and MyFutureJobs online platforms, and the Sabah Creative Economy and Innovation Centre.

“These are some of the long- and short-term measures taken to help youth get jobs,” he said during the question-and-answer session on Tuesday (Nov 29).

On a supplementary question from Elopura assemblyman Calvin Chong on future directions for the state, he said the way forward at the moment was to increase involvement in the tourism, agriculture and industrial sectors.

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Asked if there was a plan to place a human resource official at all district offices or municipal councils to make it easier for jobseekers to get information, Yakubah said this could be considered.

However, he said the prevalence of personal communications devices already made it easier for jobseekers to scour the Internet for positions and additional information.