Kuala lumpur: The Academy in Industry (ADI) programme under the Ministry of Human Resources (KESUMA) continues to demonstrate its effectiveness, with 86.3 per cent of its graduates securing employment, while 61 per cent of existing employees enjoyed a salary increase last year.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, Deputy Minister of Human Resources Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan stated that a total of 10,852 apprentices had registered under the programme, of whom 6,228 graduated, reflecting KESUMA's efforts to strengthen the effectiveness of industry-based training. He emphasized the MADANI Government's commitment to improving job quality and aligning skills with industry needs through strategic collaborations with high-impact industry players like PROTON, Huawei, PETRONAS, and Daikin.
Khairul Firdaus highlighted that the initiative aims to ensure graduates are placed in roles commensurate with their qualifications, aligning with the government's target of reducing the underemployment rate to 30 per cent by 2030. He noted that KESUMA has implemented an integrated strategy across agencies and departments to address underemployment, particularly among Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) graduates, through coordinated training, expanded apprenticeship opportunities, and job matching based on labour market data.
These efforts are intended to better coordinate labour supply and demand by integrating various initiatives and platforms under KESUMA. During a question-and-answer session at the Dewan Rakyat, Khairul Firdaus responded to a question from Datuk Awang Hashim (PN-Pendang) regarding the government's strategy to address graduate underemployment, including job placement rates by field of study and industry sector.
Khairul Firdaus mentioned that industry demand-driven training mapped to the National Occupational Skills Standards (NOSS) and complemented by In-Service Training has raised the graduate employability rate to over 90 per cent, with 85.1 per cent securing jobs aligned with their fields of study. He projected that four Advanced Technology Colleges under the Department of Manpower (ADTEC JTM) in Pasir Gudang, Bukit Katil, Kota Kinabalu, and Kepala Batas are set to achieve a 100 per cent employability rate by 2025.
He also reported that the three highest-performing clusters in terms of field-relevant job placement are transportation (90.3 per cent), engineering services (88.6 per cent), and electrical maintenance (88.5 per cent), surpassing the national averages for postgraduate and diploma graduates. The success is further reinforced by feedback showing that 97.5 per cent of employers are satisfied with the performance of ADTEC JTM students during their industrial training.
Additionally, he noted that as of December 2025, the Social Security Organisation (PERKESO) had implemented 3,715 job placement programmes, facilitating the placement of 61,997 individuals, primarily in the manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade sectors (25,481), as well as the professional, scientific, and technical sectors (13,760).