Foreign labour shortage needs to be resolved soon - MPN
31 Oct 2022 12:46pm
Image for illustrative purposes only - sinar archive
MPN chief executive officer Tan Sri Sulaiman Mahbob said the quota approval and levy payment statistics as of Sept 12 recorded 467,223 approved quotas. However, only 76,000 labour entries from 12 countries were recorded for the same period.
"That figure is too little compared to the levies already paid. Therefore, we want the Home Ministry and the Human Resources Ministry to review the process of hiring foreign workers because many sectors have a very high level of dependency.
"We found that many workers applied and made payments, but there are fewer people arriving. The question is, why haven't they come? Does it involve their country's problems or some other reasons? This point needs to be emphasised, otherwise, the agriculture sector, especially palm oil, will continue to suffer problems from workers shortage,” he told reporters in a recent media briefing.
He explained that labour-intensive industries such as the manufacturing, tourism, construction and retail sectors, including the electronics and agriculture sectors are also seen to be affected by the labour shortage issue.
In addition to the workforce issue, Sulaiman said investment and trade as well as micro, small and medium enterprises (PMKS) also need to be prioritised in the country's recovery process.
He said Malaysia needs to encourage more investment because it offers people job opportunities, while trade ensures that the country's economic recovery continues as our economy depends on global trade.
"In the context of the affected supply chain, many export activities have been disrupted (due to the Covid-19 pandemic). However, in this recovery process, we see that Port Klang's performance has improved.
"They are ready and able to attract cargo to our ports. The port sector really helps us increase exports," he said.
In terms of the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and PMKS, Sulaiman said that these groups need special attention from the government because they are the backbone of the country’s domestic investment. - BERNAMA
- MORE
