All KSM agencies to brace for challenges of IR4.0 - Saravanan

KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Human Resources (KSM) has directed all its agencies to study in depth and identify future challenges with the onset of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR4.0).

Its minister, Datuk Seri M. Saravanan said the move is to produce human capital on par with international standards as the country, including the rest of the world, headed towards rapid development.

"It is not only unemployment issues but more towards providing competitive human capital because we do not know what the future challenges will be.

"This is because the country and the world are facing IR4.0, perhaps many of us will live in a world that we cannot imagine (at this time)," he told a media conference after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between TalentCorp Malaysia Berhad (TalentCorp) and Mara Corporation Sdn Bhd (Mara Corp) here today.

Elaborating, he said for that purpose, the Social Security Organisation (Socso) not only needed to study the challenges ahead, but to identify an appropriate safety net for the local labour force.

He said Human Resources Development Berhad and TalentCorp needed to identify opportunities for the future amid the possibility that existing jobs would be lost when the country reaches IR4.0.

Earlier, he and Rural Development Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid witnessed the signing of the MoU between TalentCorp and Mara Corp for collaboration to help the transition of Mara graduates to the job market.

Saravanan said the MoU was in tandem with KSM's commitment to insulate the local labour market from current and future disruptions and was also in line with the strategic objectives of the 12th Malaysia Plan to help the Malaysian Family recover in the post-COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, Mahdzir said the synergy between the two agencies targeted more than 2,000 professional jobs for graduates under the education ecosystem comprising students from Mara Educational Institutions and those under Mara sponsorship.

"This collaboration is to match the career paths of Mara graduates with a network of companies in various industries on a platform of wider career choices to offer better opportunities to graduates," he said.

-- BERNAMA