IJOK: The Selangor Government will come up with a training scheme to help youths gain skills that will allow them to raise their income to RM2,000 within two years.
If the youths fail to reach the salary range, they would be recalled and retrained.
Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said although there were many universities and colleges offering opportunities, only 20% were able to enter them.
“About 80% of the youths never reach that level of academic achievement but they can master special skills like fitting and welding that are much sought after and earn well,” he told reporters after attending a celebratory function held in his honour at his constituency here yesterday.
He said that without training, the youths often found it hard to land jobs and even when they found employment the salaries were often low.
“In a state with 1.5 million foreign workers, the government would have been deemed to have failed if it cannot solve the problem of unemployment among its own youths,” he said.
He said another reason for the skills training was to prepare a workforce with a high level of skills and productivity to reduce dependence on foreign labour.
Khalid said the executive council would hold its first meeting on Wednesday following the swearing-in ceremony tomorrow.
He said he had asked those appointed to be forward looking and find solutions to problems before they affected the people.
In his speech earlier, he said he would also be in-charge of the youth, land and finance portfolios.
