KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24 — The current recruitment rate remains low despite the cumulative number of job vacancies advertised on the Social Security Organisation’s (Socso) MyFutureJobs portal reaching 1.1 million between January and September 30.
Human Resources Deputy Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Mohamad said the high number of vacancies does not correspond with the level of job seeker participation despite the job search process being made easier through digital platforms.
This made it more challenging for the government to ensure the industry's needs are met without increasing reliance on foreign workers.
"…through my own experience of following several MyFutureJobs programmes, there are many job vacancies, but the recruitment rate is still low. Frankly, this digital era makes it easier for them,” he said during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Abdul Rahman was replying to Padang Terap MP Nurul Amin Hamid's supplementary query as to whether the Progressive Wage Policy (PWP) played a crucial role in increasing new job opportunities in the country.
Earlier, he said Socso's statistics for the January to September 30 period found that a cumulative 1.1 million vacancies had been advertised on the MyFutureJobs portal, while 1.5 million vacancies were advertised in 2024.
Of the total, 247,889 vacancies for 2025 offered jobs with wages of RM3,000 and above, while for 2024, it was 339,916.
"From January until November 14, 2025, a total of 108,826 job vacancies were actively advertised on the MyFutureJobs portal, compared to 464,534 active job seekers,” Abdul Rahman said.
He was responding to Shah Alam MP Azli Yusof's original question, who asked about the comparison of the number of new jobs created throughout 2024 and 2025 that exceeded the median salary of RM2,600 per month in 2023 and the main sectors contributing to the increase.
Replying to Azli's supplementary question about concerns that high salary offers in the job market could lead to more frequent job-hopping, the deputy minister said the ministry is providing a skills improvement platform as one of the mitigation measures.
The initiative is activated through its training platforms, including TalentCorp and HRD Corp, in addition to improving the structure of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) curriculum, together with the industry, to ensure the local workforce can meet the needs of the sector that offers competitive salaries.
"We want to provide upskilling and reskilling to those already in the workforce so that their income increases and job opportunities become better than usual,” Abdul Rahman said, adding that the use of the ministry's portal and actual job market data gives TVET graduates an advantage in filling existing industry vacancies.
