KOTA KINABALU: The unemployment rate in Sabah increased sharply when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020.

       Sabah Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Yakub Khan said the unemployment rate was at 8% in 2020 and climbed to 9% in 2021.

       He said the unemployment rate was 5.8% in 2019, before the pandemic hit.

       "In 2021, a total of 184,200 unemployed people were identified in Sabah," he said when winding-up his ministry's debate at the Sabah State Assembly on Wednesday (March 23).

       He said the high unemployment rate was very worrying but efforts are underway to reduce this, adding that his ministry was working with state and federal agencies.

       Among the efforts, he said, was the MyFutureJobs portal where 110,038 active job seekers were recorded in Sabah and Labuan, with a total of 43,229 opportunities offered to job seekers as of March 22, 2022.

       He also said 8,684 found employment from 2021 to February 2022.

       Other measures include job search assistance for persons with disabilities (OKU) implemented through the Human Resource Development Department and the Social Security Organisation (Socso) last year.

       "Socso also held two Career Carnival programs for OKU involving the hearing impaired and others in 2021 with 16 OKU getting jobs," he said, adding more such carnivals would be held this year.

       He said another 6,977 people got job placements through the Career Carnival programme, while another 2,500 Sabah youth are expected to get job opportunities in the Career Gig-Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ) to be held on March 29.

       He said through skills training programmes, some 5,772 Sabah youth were trained in 2021 while another 236 people were undergoing training this year.

       "Various other training were also conducted by agencies from the state ministry," he said.

       Yakub said his ministry was also planning to set up a technical university in Sabah in collaboration with Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara).

       He said a series of meetings with Mara had been held to make the plan a success with a focus on providing technical and trade training to meet the current need of industries.