KUALA LUMPUR: The MyDigitalWorkForce Work In Tech (MYWiT) initiative announced today by Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) is a testament to the government's continued effort to sustain the tech industry, Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said.

He said it also served as a boost to increase capabilities and capacities to enable the digital business industry to survive and thrive.

"Together with MDEC, the government will continue to drive the digital economy forward and accelerate towards achieving the goals as set forth in MyDIGITAL in ensuring shared prosperity for all," he said in a statement.

MDEC said MYWiT is a training and hiring incentive programme aimed at boosting the digital business services sector as well as developing quality tech talents in Malaysia with the objective to upskill and subsidise talents and businesses with RM100 million in training and salary incentives.

It said the programme is an extension of the #MyDigitalWorkforce Movement that MDEC launched last year to help reskill and upskill Malaysians for digital economy jobs.

"More than 300 companies within these sectors are expected to gain from this programme while an estimated 6,000 job opportunities will be created with the aim to produce at least 1,000 quality tech talents.

"This is in line with the government's Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDIGITAL) which targets to create 500,000 jobs for Malaysians by 2025," it said.

MDEC chairman Datuk Dr Rais Hussin Mohamed Ariff said that in a landscape transformed by the pandemic, embracing digitalisation and Industrial Revolution 4.0 (4IR) technologies are vital for businesses and the Malaysian workforce.

Hence, he said, through the initiative, MDEC would pursue its mandate in ensuring that it brings innovation and advancement in the workplace and businesses in support of the MyDIGITAL promise.

"Skilling Malaysians digitally as facilitated by employer-incentivised programmes like MYWiT, counters unemployment, progressing our nation along the Malaysia 5.0 journey," he added.

MDEC chief executive officer Surina Shukri said MDEC targeted to incentivise tech companies prepared to hire, upskill and adequately compensate the Malaysian workforce, directly averting and eradicating the impact that COVID-19 is exerting on unemployment.

"At the most fundamental level, the programme accelerates Malaysia's journey towards being a digital society through creating digital opportunities for the people, businesses and the economy as a whole, in line with MyDIGITAL," she said.

MDEC said MyWiT is made up of two components -- the Digital Business Services (DBS) that is open to fresh graduates, unemployed and retrenched individuals and Digital Tech Apprenticeship (DTA) initiatives that is open to the unemployed and retrenched employees.

It said DBS is aimed at incentivising companies who are hiring fresh graduates or unemployed Malaysians for digital business services roles within their organisation and offers a minimum incentive of between RM9,800 and RM20,600 per employee.

Meanwhile, it said DTA is targeted at companies that are hiring unemployed Malaysians for high demand tech jobs in areas such as data science, software development and cybersecurity, offering a total incentive package of RM15,200 per employee.

It said to qualify for both the DBS and DTA incentives, the company must be incorporated in Malaysia and is committed to offering employment for a minimum of 12 months with a maximum hiring quota set at 500 pax for DBS and 50 for DTA.

On the other hand, it said individuals seeking to benefit from MyWiT must be Malaysian citizens and must not be a current or past beneficiary of any of MDEC's MyWiT incentives or part of PenjanaKerjaya 2.0 and Penjana KPT-CAP programmes.

It said MDEC's initiatives under the pillar of Digital Jobs and Skills have impacted more than two million Malaysians from 2016 to the third quarter of 2020.

It added that to date, the agency has reached out to support the workforce in accessing skilling and income opportunities through programmes and initiatives which include the Digital Skills Training Directory, Global Online Workforce (GLOW) as well as Go-eCommerce.

-- BERNAMA