Income disparity issues emerge as urbanisation grows - Reezal
Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican said even though the median monthly income across the B40, M40 and T20 income groups had each increased, the T20 however recorded at least three times higher than B40 throughout the period. ASTRO AWANI/SHAHIR O
KUALA LUMPUR: As urbanisation grows from 71 per cent in 2010 to 76 per cent today, issues such as income disparity has emerged, widening the gap between the urban rich and urban poor households in Malaysia.
Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican said even though the median monthly income across the B40, M40 and T20 income groups had each increased, the T20 however recorded at least three times higher than B40 throughout the period.
"...and the current pandemic has only aggravated the effects of this further, but even worse, people are now dealing with a total loss of income," Reezal said in his keynote address at the Youth Economic Forum 2021 which discussed the topic 'Navigating The Future : Towards Future Proofing Our Youth'
Reezal Merican said the government has introduced several initiatives including a national apprenticeship scheme called Skim Perantisan Nasional (SPN) to tackle unemployment issues, as well as reskilling and upskilling programmes such as MyDigital plan to increase digital literacy and create high income jobs.
He said to maintain 2.7 million jobs, the government instituted initiatives such as the RM2 billion PENJANA SME Scheme, RM340 million Micro Credit Financing Scheme, and RM13.53 billion Wage Subsidy Programme.
He also recommended that everyone start normalising foresightful thinking by analysing data, which he described as an important tool that could facilitate the transformation of challenges into opportunities.
"At the Ministry of Youth and Sports, understanding data on youth was vital for me to have a clearer picture of the situation faced by our youths, and having this data will enable us to make the right policies that will benefit them," he said.
Reezal Merican said, currently the ministry was working with the Department of Statistics Malaysia, Finance Ministry and other ministries to streamline all data relating to youth to assist and enable the ministry to come up with a New Youth Development Model.
He said the new model that will address skills and abilities in technology proficiency, usage of data, analytical thinking and innovation has been designed to complement the existing Malaysian Youth Policy.
-- BERNAMA
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