MALAYSIAN companies should offer better pay to local engineers to prevent them from emigrating abroad for better career prospects, says Deputy Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Liew Chin Tong.
He said engineers would remain in the country if companies were willing to pay at least two-thirds of the average salary for an engineer in Singapore.
“For those (engineers) who went to (work) in Singapore, if they were offered two-thirds of the salary (in Singapore), they would rather stay here.
“As competition intensifies and with more companies coming into the country, they should be paying higher salaries (to our engineers),” he said during Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
He also said education institutions should offer courses that were relevant to industry needs.
“Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions and universities should offer courses that are required by the industry,” he added.
Liew was responding to Mohd Isam Mohd Isa (BN-Tampin) who had asked about Putrajaya’s measures to prevent the brain drain involving local engineers.
Mohd Isam said the electrical and electronics products (E&E) industry requires 50,000 engineers, but there were only 5,000 engineers in the local workforce, with some opting to work in Singapore due to attractive salaries there.
On another matter, Liew said the trade and technology competition between China and the United States in the semiconductor industry has led to many multinational companies reducing their dependency on a single country.
