SHAH ALAM, Nov 24 — The unemployment rate among youth in Selangor continued to show a downward trend, with 5.5 per cent recorded in 2020 compared to 6.8 per cent in 2021, said state Youth, Sports and Entrepreneurship Committee chairman Mohd Najwan Halimi.

This, he said, was due to a significant change in job search trends, especially involving youth, and, at the same time, various initiatives had been implemented by the state government to reduce the unemployment rate.

"In 2022, the number of unemployed youth in Selangor was 67,200 people compared to 94,800 in 2021. Meanwhile, in terms of unemployment, (2022) recorded a 1.3 per cent reduction compared to 2021,” he said when replying to a question from Pua Pei Ling (PH-Bukit Lanjan) about the state’s unemployment rate at the Selangor State Legislative Assembly sitting here today.

He said being unemployed means those who do not work and are looking for a job while youth, according to the Malaysian Youth Policy (DBM), refers to people in the 15-30 age group.

Meanwhile, Mohd Najwan said that in a bid to open up job opportunities and reduce unemployment among youth in Selangor, his committee encourages them to join the gig economy sector as an option to generate income.

"The Roda Darul Ehsan (RiDE) initiative is an effort to continue to help this group, thus encouraging their participation in the latest sector. They stand to benefit from the subsidy of RM550 each.

”In 2022, and also this year, the state government has implemented three Selangor Mega Job Fairs, which offered over 50,000 job opportunities. We also collaborated with industries to provide job opportunities for persons with disabilities (PwD),” he said.

Meanwhile, in reply to a question from Lim Yi Wei (PH-Kampung Tunku) about the domestic violence hotline, Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said it received a total of 24 calls as of October.

"Of the total, 18 involved domestic violence while the rest were not related to domestic violence,” he said. — Bernama