KUALA TERENGGANU: The government would like to see stronger participation of local workers in industries usually manned by their foreign counterparts and for dependence on foreign labour to be capped at just 10% of the workforce in the future.
Deputy Human Resources Minister Datuk Mahfuz Omar said to achieve this, the country would need to produce more skilled workers through vocational training programmes.
"There is a high demand for a skilled workforce, which is why we want to raise it by 35% by 2020," he said.
Mahfuz said this after a town hall dialogue between local employers and an independent task force on the management of foreign labour.
He said the country had managed to bring down its dependence on foreign workers to about 11% in the past 10 years.
In 2008, there were 2.06 million foreign workers powering the manufacturing, plantation, construction, services and domestic sectors.
By 2018, the foreign labour force in those sectors had decreased to 1.75 million people.
However, Mahfuz did not specify a deadline for when this ideal dependence rate would be enforced.
"We will wait for the report from the independent task force before making any decision," he said.
The task force was set up in September, following a cabinet meeting to conduct a detailed study on the policies and management of foreign labour.
It is expected to present a report on its findings and make recommendations on areas to improve to the cabinet in November.
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