One and a half million jobs will be available in Malaysia by the year 2020 and the government wants Malaysians to take them up as a way to reduce dependency on foreign labour.
According to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, 60 percent of these jobs would require technical and vocational skills.
“We are capable of optimising skilled labour force and not depending on foreign workers,” Bernama quoted him as saying.
“Priority should be given to local workers, and the local work force must be given adequate salary so that they can contribute towards national development,” he was quoted further.
We’re still heavily dependent on foreign workforce, though. Bloomberg states that 44 percent of foreign workers in the country — 2.1 million registered workers and about a million illegal workers — were hired for the so-called 3-D jobs, many of them in farming, construction and manufacturing.
Last week, the government lifted a freeze on hiring foreign workers for four sectors due to what has been determined to be an ‘acute shortage’.
These sectors are: manufacturing, construction, plantation and furniture-making.
“On other sectors, we will go on a case-by-case basis, while waiting for the creation of a more foolproof, transparent and accountable system,” Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai had said.
