HR Minister Says Mega Projects will Prioritise Local Workers

Human Resources Minister, Datuk Seri M. Saravanan said mega projects such as the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) will prioritise local workers and drive the job market in a mission to address unemployment issues post-pandemic.

Saravanan said among the steps taken by the Human Resources Ministry to address the unemployment problem was to decrease the involvement of foreign workers by suspending recruitment in some sectors until December 2020.

"In such a situation, I believe that projects such as the ERCL and others will give space to local workers and indirectly give them opportunities to fill the job demand," he said in reply to an additional question from Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan during Question Time in Parliament on July 20.

Ahmad asked the ministry whether it will secure the employment of local workers in mega projects such as the ECRL, Pan Borneo Highway project, and the Klang Valley mass rapid transit line 3 (MRT3) to address the unemployment issue.

To the initial question, Saravanan said that the country's labour market is expected to recover in the second quarter of the year after it was severely hit by the impact of the global pandemic.

The Malaysian government is reducing its dependency on foreign workers.

Signs of recovery

The minister said economic indicators, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), have revealed that the economy is slowly improving from May to June because of the government's economic package plans.

"In line with the latest development, in a short-term, the labour situation in June has improved, while in mid-term until the second quarter of the year, the labour market is expected to strengthen.

"This is proven as of June 2, when DOSM found that 12.7 million workers or 83.5% have started work compared to 10.2 million (67.2%) on May 17," he told Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar had requested the ministry to report its projection of unemployment and actions taken to address the issue. The Human Resources Minister said that Malaysia recorded an unemployment rate of 5.3% in May compared to 5% in April based on the statistics from DOSM.

"DOSM has projected that the unemployment rate will be between the range of 3.5% to 5.5%," he said.

Among the sectors identified that had been seriously hit included tourism, services, manufacturing as well as those who are self-employed, which is mostly comprised of small businesses. "These groups are at risk of losing their jobs and source of income due to the movement control order (MCO)," added Saravanan.

The government had rolled out several economic packages such as the Prihatin package to support more than 2.4 million workers, help reduce the financial burden of 11 million Malaysians and additional assistance to more than 300,000 companies struggling from the impact of the global pandemic.

Source: The Star

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