Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) recently announced the enhancement of the MyDigitalWorkforce Work in Tech (MYWiT), a hiring and training incentive programme, to accelerate the reskilling and placement of unemployed Malaysians in digital tech and services related jobs.
Introduced under Kumpulan Wang COVID-19, the subsidy programme involves an RM100 million fund from the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to support MDEC’s #MyDigitalWorkforce Movement. It aims to incentivise employers to hire unemployed Malaysians via training and salary subsidies.
MDEC’s CEO stated that the discrepancy between the skills that are sought by employers and the existing skill set possessed by the local workforce is an important issue that should be addressed if we want to be at the forefront of the digital economy. The effort must address talent and skills mismatch, as the incentive emphasises developing talents through reskilling and upskilling programmes.
The goal of the MYWiT programme in bridging the skills gap and other issues in the local workforce is crucial as we seek to realise the goals of the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDIGITAL) and the Twelfth Malaysia Plan (12MP) unveiled recently.
MYWiT is targeting companies that are offering digital tech and services roles, in line with the national goal of creating 500,000 new jobs for the rakyat by 2025 as outlined in the MyDIGITAL. With MYWiT’s enhancement, hiring companies are eligible to apply for employment made between 5 April 2021 and 30 April 2022, encouraging more job opportunities within the digital economy.
In addition, MDEC has also simplified the eligibility criteria and processes, allowing companies to have a faster approval timeframe and greater inclusivity via less restrictive requirements as well as simplifying the incentive structure based on feedback from the industry.
The updated incentive structure covers 40% of the employee’s monthly salary for six months (minimum salary of RM2,000) and is capped at RM2,600 per individual per month. In addition, hiring companies are also eligible to receive up to RM5,000 for in-house training for each employed person or up to RM8,000 for training by third-party providers.
Companies stand to obtain incentives worth up to RM23,600 for each person trained and employed. To ensure that the participants are equipped with quality training programmes, employers will be required to select training programmes that are listed on MDEC’s Digital Skills Training Directory. Courses listed on the directory have been reviewed and endorsed by digital tech industry practitioners and are also consistent with the national Digital Tech Industry Skills Frameworks.
The Digital Skills Training Directory currently lists more than 300 courses in areas such as FinTech, data science, cybersecurity, software development, game development, animation and digital global business services. Participating employers are expected to offer a minimum 12-month employment to Malaysian citizens who are unemployed. These may include fresh graduates, retrenched employees or those who have been unemployed for more than two months.
The incentive is eligible for a wide range of jobs that require digital tech skills as well as jobs that support digital global business services. These include jobs such as software developer, cybersecurity analyst, data scientist, content moderation, customer experience and many more.
The pandemic brought into focus the paradigm shift in the digitalisation of the economy. It is vital for the labour market to make that quantum leap and utilise all resources available to transform into digital producers and leaders, MDEC’s Chief Digital Skills and Jobs Officer said.
MYWiT is an extension of the #MyDigitalWorkforce Movement that MDEC launched in 2020 to facilitate the reskilling and upskilling programmes in the domestic labour market. MDEC has been leading several programmes including Digital Skills Training Directory, Global Online Workforce (GLOW) and Go-eCommerce to spur talent creation as well as widen income opportunities in the digital economy.
