The National Action Plan for Employment 2008-2010, launched today, will focus on the government's response to unemployment and under-employment of the nation's workforce, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said today.

The prime minister said the plan sought to respond to the possible increase in unemployment rate, the result of the global economic chaos, the nation's heavy dependence on foreign workers, the fast-changing demands of the labour market as well as to intensify and enhance the country's labour market competitiveness.
"In essence, the action plan is a national agenda that aims to provide direction and outline priorities for employment in Malaysia. In this regard, the rebranded 'jobsmalaysia' can play a key role in facilitation, job placement and recruitment as well as in providing a platform to ensure the successful implementation of the National Action Plan for Employment," he said.
He said this at the opening of the National Tripartite Conference on Decent Work at the Putra World Trade Centre here. His speech was delivered by Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam.
Abdullah hoped that the plan would be implemented effectively and expeditiously and that all stakeholders, social partners and non-governmental organisations would continue to provide feedback and work hand-in-hand with the Human Resources Ministry to ensure the plan's success.
"Even as we are able to take comfort in the strong fundamentals of our economy and the various initiatives that the government has put in place, we nevertheless cannot expect to remain entirely insulated from the current global financial crisis