Harden speaks during the SWIS engagement session today.
KUCHING (March 20): Sarawak is targeting to have 500,000 skilled workers, with a total of 1,500,000 workforce, by 2030 with the help of the Sarawak Workforce Information System (SWIS), said Education, Innovation and Talent Development Deputy Minister Datuk Francis Harden Hollis.
He said the state needs more workers, especially in key economic sectors, including renewable energies like hydrogen, solar and electric vehicles, which play pivotal roles for its development.
“To ensure our state remains at the forefront of these industries, it’s imperative that we nurture and produce the right talent pool. This is where initiatives like SWIS become indispensable,” he said during the SWIS engagement session at the Sarawak Skills Auditorium here today.
According to Harden, SWIS not only allows Sarawak to understand the current trajectory but it also enables the state to chart a course based on online data submission, which are live data for future workforce development.
He said numbers and statistics often paint a vivid picture of reality, and hence Sarawak recognises the need for accurate data on skilled workforce within the state.
“This data serves as the foundation in which informed decisions and strategic planning can be built.
“The primary purpose of SWIS is to collect pertinent data that provides insights into the employment landscape. It is a web-based online system that captures the current and projected workforce supply, as well as demands data to reduce the gaps in employability and the surplus supply of graduates in institution level,” he said.
Harden revealed that based on Pocket Stats Q2 2023 from Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), Sarawak placed in the Top Five states for job vacancies, with 4,494 openings in Q1 2023 and 4,275 in Q4 2022.
Given that the statistics could indicate a mismatch or undersupply, data harvesting, with the existence of SWIS, is important for the state to study, analyse and populate supply as well as demand data for manpower planning.
“My ministry is planning to further enhance SWIS to benefit both the institution and industry users upon registration in the system.
“For example, e-certificates will be provided to users who display their commitment towards entering data into SWIS,” he said.
Apart from that, Harden said that there will be supply and demand data interaction between both the institution and industry through email notifications while users are able to view manpower data through the statistical dashboard in SWIS.
He said his ministry is in the process of drafting the free tertiary education policy, which involves six state-owned institutions that will greatly affect data harvesting for SWIS, especially the supply data to be provided to the industry for employment opportunities.
“By understanding how employment looks across various sectors, we can effectively plan and allocate resources to address any gaps or challenges that may arise,” he said.
Harden also emphasised that SWIS operates with utmost respect for privacy.
Developers of SWIS understand the sensitivity of personal data and reassure that the system only collects statistical information, ensuring confidentiality is always maintained.
Following that, he said the state needs relevant parties to support in populating SWIS with accurate and up-to-date data.
“Your contributions will significantly enhance the effectiveness of our analytics and planning efforts. We also urge you to leverage your networks to encourage others to enter their data into SWIS.
“Together, we can create a comprehensive repository of workforce information that will drive meaningful change and progress in Sarawak,” said Harden.
SWIS is one of the initiatives by the state government under the Education and Human Capital Development, which is also under the state’s Post-Covid Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030.
The system, which was developed together with Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), aims to become a comprehensive labour market database system that contains information about industry demand for the workforce, and matching the demand for talent supply.