An opposition lawmaker has pointed out that the country’s economic recovery will continue to be hampered unless the government addresses disconnected efforts in the management of workers and small businesses.
Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah cited figures from the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) that over 600,000 foreign workers are needed this year to overcome an acute manpower shortage and bring businesses back to pre-pandemic levels.
"If disconnected efforts continue in the management of workers and small and medium enterprise (SME) industries, we will not see our economy growing but become laden with even more challenges, especially in acute shortage of good and relevant workers," she said in a statement today.
The vacancies for manual labour were left unfilled by local workers due to low minimum wage and a mismatch between skills and the need of industry, Maria added.
On the other hand, she said recruitment of foreign workers require systematic and professional management between the Human Resources Ministry, Home Ministry and other related ministries.
"It appears there is no strategic foresight in human resources planning.
"Each ministry is working in isolation of each other and narrowly building their own portfolio," Maria said, referring to immigration policies affecting migrant workers and vocational training for local workers.
"There must be consistency in the recruitment as well as control over inflow to also protect our local workers.
"Haphazard immigration policies do not help our economy. We are not yet out of the woods in rebuilding our economy despite ministers claiming it will recover soon," the MP added.
Malaysia recently reopened applications for the hiring of migrant workers in selected sectors, amid ongoing bilateral negotiations with Bangladesh and Indonesia for new recruitment terms. - Mkini
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