This came about through the cooperation of numerous ministries, agencies, as well as the private sector, he said.

“This accomplishment is 112% higher than the initial target and the government is confident it can repeat the accomplishment with a higher aim for this year,” he said in a statement, referring to the 600,000 jobs goal of the National Employment Council (NEC) for 2022.

He said that in the last month alone, 42,166 people had been employed and a total of 1,200 new jobs created.

Ismail had chaired the NEC meeting earlier which discussed, among other issues, strategies to reduce reliance on foreign workers.

“A quota system and multi-tier levy are among the measures that could be taken to tackle the issue,” he said.

Realising that the unemployment rate among youths stands at 80.3%, the NEC has asked the human resources ministry to come out with a specific strategy to provide them jobs.