Ministry will focus more on youth economic issues - Adam Adli

SHAH ALAM - The Youth and Sports Ministry (KBS) wants to focus more on youth economic issues, which revolve around unemployment, minimum wages and bankruptcy.

Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Adam Adli Abdul Halim said the ministry is in the midst of collecting data to find the number of unemployment among youth in the country.

“We (KBS) are working hard to find the real numbers of unemployment among youth in Malaysia through surveys so we can know the exact numbers and, at the same time, we can figure out how to reduce this issue,” he said.

The Hang Tuah Jaya MP said the ministry would coordinate with other ministries to overcome this issue.

“After we know the exact number of the unemployed, we will discuss it with other ministries, such as the Human Resources Ministry... just give us more time and space to look into the matter,” he told Sinar Daily during his visit at the Karangkraf Media Group headquarters, here, earlier today.

On the issue of minimum wage, Adam said the government’s policy on the issue had been presented many times, but it did not reflect the solution.

He opined that it was a subjective issue, but at the same time, needed to look at the cost of living as well.

“If we are talking about minimum wages, there are many indicators that we need to look at.

“We have to estimate and calculate correctly based on Malaysia’s increasing cost of living.

“Now, KBS is looking to find solutions to help the youth, for example, we are trying to reduce the youth’s expenses by giving discounts on sports equipment.”

Meanwhile, when asked about bankruptcy among Malaysian youth, Adam said it was important to ascertain the problem’s roots and conduct analysis before acting on it.