JOHOR BARU: The state government wants to gradually reduce its dependency on foreign workers, especially in the manufacturing and service sectors.
Johor education, human resource, science and technology committee chairman Aminolhuda Hassan said foreigners, especially Indonesians and Vietnamese, were no longer interested to work in Johor.
“Malaysia is no longer attractive to job seekers from both countries unlike in the old days as their countries are also developing, ’’ he said.
Aminolhuda said to overcome the problem, Johor will focus on human capital development to create more job opportunities for Johoreans.
He said the state government could not undertake the task alone and the best way was to strengthen the public-private partnership with support from the industries.
Aminolhuda added that the partnership would add synergy to achieve the target of creating some 200, 000 job opportunities in the state from 2018-2022.
“As of June, there were about 90, 000 job vacancies, of which 60, 000 was for semi-skilled and skilled workers, ’’ he said.
Aminolhuda encouraged industries to send their workers for upskilling and training courses and other programmes to enhance their skills.
He said the courses and programmes were available at Johor Skills Development Centre (Puspatri) in Pasir Gudang, Johor Education Foundation, National Youth Skills Institute in Pagoh, Muar, community colleges and industrial training institutions.
“We have requested the Federal Government to allocate new equipment to Puspatri as the centre plays an important role in providing the courses to workers, ’’ said Aminolhuda.
Puspatri managing director Ja’apar Samat said some 450 companies sent their workers for upskilling and training courses at the centre.
“There is demand for competent, skilled workers and professionals in the oil and gas (O&G) sector in Johor, ’’ he said.
Ja’apar said the positions were to carry out downstream and upstream activities in the multi-billion ringgit petrochemical complex in Pengerang, Kota Tinggi and Tanjung Langsat industrial area in Pasir Gudang.
He said among the positions included health and safety officers, welders, corrosion inspectors, steam plant engineers, operations and maintenance engineers.
“Our O&G training and programmes are based on internationally certified modules from Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom, ’’ said Ja’apar.
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