‘Shortage of workers still exists’

Syed Hussain: ‘Malaysian employers should automate their business.’

PETALING JAYA: There is still a shortage of workers in some industries even as all the country’s economic indicators are improving and showing a positive trend, says the Malaysian Employers Federation.

MEF president Datuk Dr Syed Hussain Syed Husman said Malaysia would do well with the positive trend should political stability return.

“Things are improving. It is not surprising because we ourselves feel that it’s positive. With this trend and added with political stability, we can do well,” he told reporters at the launch of MEF’s four latest publications yesterday.

Syed Hussain said while the government was doing enough to help employers cope, the shortage of workers in some industries remained because workers now had the choice of where they wanted to work.

MEF also called on the government to assist small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to automate by providing them with funds and giving them time.

He said while it was almost “impossible” to replace foreign workers with local workforce, Malaysian employers could reduce their reliance on foreign labour by automating their business.

“We are not a big nation and to expand our economy, we will still need foreign workers,” said Syed Hussain.

The four latest publications launched were the MEF Salary Survey for Executives 2022, MEF Salary Survey for Non-Executives, MEF Fringe Benefits Survey 2022 and MEF Analysis of Collective Agreements and Awards on Terms and Conditions of Employment 2021.

A total of 252 companies from the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors took part in the Salary Surveys for Executives, while 250 member companies participated in the Salary Survey for Non-Executives.

Syed Hussain said the latest MEF Salary Surveys showed that 93% of employers granted salary increases to all or certain executive and non-executive employees this year, which was a significant increase from 65.2% and 66.4% respectively in 2021.

“The average salary increase for executives was 5.26% and for non-executives, 5.35%,” he said.

In terms of forecast salary increase for next year, the surveys indicated a 5.44% increase for executives and 5.43% for non-executives.

“Approximately 90% of the surveyed companies attributed employees’ performance as the main criteria for determining salary increases,” he said, adding that over 80% of the respondent companies also granted bonuses in 2022.

“The forecast for bonuses in 2023 is 2.18 months and 2.06 months for executives and non-executives, higher than the actual bonuses in 2022 of 2.06 months and 1.77 months.”

The survey also showed that following the implementation of the Minimum Wages Order 2022, 70.3% of the respondent companies were impacted while 29.7% of the companies said they were not affected.