‘Tough task for industries to fill migrant labour shortage’

Low says country will need to bring in 50,000 migrant workers monthly or 1,666 daily.

IT IS going to be a challenging task for Malaysia to get about 600,000 migrant workers for the manufacturing sector to help production return to pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels.

Johor Baru Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry president (JBCCI) Low Kueck Shin said the country would need to bring in about 50,000 migrant workers monthly or 1,666 daily.

“It is not an easy task as employers have to go through several stages before their applications to hire foreign workers are approved by the authorities,’’ he said when contacted.

Low was asked to comment on the statement by the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) that the country’s manufacturing sector needed 600,000 migrant workers in 2022.

FMM reasoned that some new investments would still require a level of low-skilled manpower for certain processes within their operations.

It added that manufacturers continued to face difficulties in hiring locals to fill shortages in the unskilled workers category arising from the current freeze in new recruitment of foreign workers.

Teh says labour shortage was an issue even before the Covid-19 pandemic and movement restrictions.

The statement said industries had no choice but to rely on foreign workers as locals were not keen on certain jobs and industries, especially in the 3D (dangerous, dirty, difficult) sectors.

“Apart from manufacturing, the plantation, agricultural and construction sectors are also depending heavily on migrant workers as locals are not interested to work,’’ Low pointed out.

Manufacturers in Johor, he said, were having problems hiring locals as they preferred to work in Singapore due to its strong currency.

Low said it was becoming more difficult to get Indonesians to come to Malaysia to work in the plantation, agricultural and construction sectors as there were many job opportunities there.

He said it would also be a costly affair for the manufacturers as employers were obliged to provide minimum accommodation requirements under the Workers’ Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities Act 1990 (Act 446) to curb the spread of Covid-19, especially among foreign workers.

Meanwhile, Johor South SME Association adviser Teh Kee Sin said labour shortage was an issue even before the Covid-19 pandemic and movement restrictions.

“The situation worsened when employers sent foreign workers back to their home countries because of low orders, mainly because of the global slowdown.”

Teh said due to the drop in overtime, the workers also complained of less income and requested to go back on their own accord.

However, business surged with the relaxation of the movement control order on June 1 last year, following 45 days of no activities.

“But the whole market faces a massive shortage of labour resulting from the various MCOs, when many locals were laid off.”

He added that unemployed locals had no interest in filling the vacancies left by foreign workers.

“The Federal and state governments have to look into labour replacement as soon as possible or Malaysia may lose to neighbouring countries as foreign investors would rather invest elsewhere.”