HR Ministry: No freeze in foreign worker intake but many applications rejected

Malaysia recorded a slight increase in the labour force participation rate at 68.6% while the unemployment rate remained at 3.3% in January 2019.

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama): The Human Resources Ministry says there is no freeze in the recruitment of foreign workers but said many applications to bring in workers had been rejected due to non-compliance with the law.

The ministry said in a statement on Friday (May 17) that it was committed to ensuring that employers continue to abide by the country's labour laws and guidelines to check the practice of forced labour in the country.

In the past two years, 4,434 employers from the restaurant sub-sector had applied to hire foreign workers via the ePPAx System of the Peninsular Malaysia Manpower Department, and of this number only 1,407 applications involving 8,552 workers were approved, it said.

"As at April 2019, 796 applications to hire foreign workers were received. Of this number, 216 applications involving 1,840 foreign workers were approved and 580 applications were rejected.

"Of this number, 517 applications were rejected because the employers failed to adhere to labour laws and the remaining 63 were because the employers were not eligible to hire foreign workers," the statement said. – Bernama