The Malaysia government has vowed to have as many as 15,000 job vacancies created per month as an effort to revive the ailing job market. The Human Resources minister, Datuk Dr S Subramaniam said the jobs will be offered by both public and private sectors and involve contractual as well as permanent jobs.

Of late, jobs availability has been a major concern for many Malaysians with the number of layoffs and retrenchment on the sharp rise. To date, more than 80,000 people from various fields and job specialization have lost their jobs this year and the figure expected to reach 200,000 by year end of 2009.

Some quarters believe the country will eventually slump into recession in due time.

Under the newly hailed RM60 billion second stimulus plan, RM700 million will be allocated to create more than 150,000 training and job placement opportunities to the local job seekers. The second stimulus plan was announced by the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, 2 days ago in parliament.

As the government is also speeding up effort to reduce its reliance on foreign workers, preference will be given to local Malaysians. Yesterday, the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hamid Albar revealed that more than 50,000 visas approved for Bangladeshi workers will be revoked immediately. The Bangladesh government has since its expressed disappointment over the visas cancellation.