PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) today thanked Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar for looking into the shortage of workers in certain sectors – such as plantation, agriculture and construction – and deciding to bring in workers from 15 countries in Asia.
The minister said on Sunday that it is difficult to get local workers to work in these sectors and Malaysia’s dependence on foreign workers in these sectors is very high and if sufficient number of workers cannot be provided it will disrupt their operations and result in huge losses.
Sivakumar stated further that the labour shortage must be solved immediately because it could affect the economy as over 700,000 foreign workers have returned to their home countries during the Covid-19 pandemic.
MEF president Datuk Dr Syed Hussain Syed Husman said MEF thanks Home Affairs Minister Senator Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and Sivakumar for treating the labour issues seriously and improving the process of getting foreign workers.
He added that MEF supports the decision of the government to bring foreign labour to jobs and sectors that Malaysians are not interested to take up. especially the 3D jobs.
“Malaysia is losing huge revenue due to shortage of workers and every sen to be gained helps the nation and rakyat to quickly sustain the country’s economy and competitiveness. It was reported that the additional foreign workers to be brought in under the Foreign Labour Relation Programme will contribute to 1% additional gross domestic product to the country,” said Syed Hussain.
MEF, he added, will ensure that the foreign workers brought into the country do not compete with local job seekers and employers are clear on the jobs to be provided to foreign workers.
Syed Hussain said employers prefer local workers in these sectors as the cost is so much lower than employing foreign workers and, furthermore, if locals are employed all revenue earned both by companies and Malaysian is spent here. It is estimated that foreign workers remit home more than RM34 billion annually.
