After almost two years of on-off operations, employers are urging the government to resolve labour woes quickly in sectors such as manufacturing and construction, as the economy recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic.

National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (NCCIM) stated that the worker shortage was caused by expiring foreign workers’ permits, poaching of workers by other sectors as well as the ‘open and shut’ SOPs during the various MCOs and lockdowns.

NCCIM did a Quick Take Survey covering 835 companies and reported a shortage of 77,721 workers. The manufacturing sector required up to 77.1 percent of the total manpower needed followed by the construction sector at 11.2 percent and other services at 8.9 percent.

Data compiled from industry associations show that plantations require 70,000 foreign workers, rubber glove industry (25,000), furniture (30,000), construction (200,000), manufacturing (25,000), services (45,000) and plastics (6,300).

The number of foreign workers now stands at 1.1 million, down 800,000 from 1.9 million in 2018.

In comparison, in August 2021, the number of unemployed persons reduced to 748,800 persons compared to 778,200 in July.

NCCIM stated that what this translates into is that if a new addition of about 250,000 unemployed persons were to fill up the vacuum left by foreign workers, there still remains a shortfall of at least 500,000 workers.

-HR HUB