Media Statement: Budget 2017

Shareen Shariza Dato’ Abdul Ghani

Chief Executive Officer of Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad (TalentCorp)

TalentCorp welcomes the Government’s announcement for Budget 2017, which includes Malaysians at home – particularly women and young talent – in its plans towards nation building.
 

1. Malaysia has made significant progress in the past six years in increasing the number of women in the workforce. The national female labour participation rate (FLPR) climbed to 54.1 per cent in 2015 from 46.8 percent in 2010, through the implementation of numerous Government initiatives. While this is just under the 55 percent target set for 2015, this 7.3 percent increase in FLPR has resulted in an additional 750,000 women entering the workforce.
2. To enhance the contribution of women to Malaysia’s economy and promote greater inclusiveness in the workforce, Budget 2017 announced a RM2 billion allocation for numerous programmes, including TalentCorp’s Career Comeback programme. This will help us to raise awareness among employers of the Career Comeback Grant and facilitate more women on career breaks to return to work.
3. At the same time, as Malaysia continues to grow in line with our pursuit of high-income status, the Government remains committed to ensuring nobody is excluded from the nation’s economic development. In keeping with this, TalentCorp works to ensure Malaysia’s leading employers have a sustainable pipeline of talent to fuel their growth and investment.
4. To ensure our young Malaysian talent at home are able to enjoy the high-income professional opportunities arising from our nation’s economic transformation, the double tax deduction incentive under TalentCorp’s Structured Internship Programme (SIP) will be made applicable to employers providing quality internships to students pursuing undergraduate degrees, diplomas and the Malaysian Skills Certificate (SKM) Level 3 and above under technical and vocational education and training (TVET) programmes. This incentive will also be extended for a period of 3 years, from 2017 to 2019. Under the Structured Internship Programme, undergraduates and TVET students will be able to gain work experience while still studying and broaden their understanding of the career opportunities available in Malaysia’s key economic sectors.

TalentCorp will do its part to deliver these Budget 2017 measures, by working with leading employers to better enable Malaysian talent to access high income career opportunities arising from the economic transformation.