ALTHOUGH mining and quarrying contributed 29.6% to Sabah’s economy last year, only 7,500 locals were hired to work in that sector, Parti Warisan Sabah vice-president Junz Wong said today.

He said the government appears to be keen on profiting from the natural resources while forgetting about job creation.  

“We don’t know who benefits from all the mining. It is definitely not Sabahans,” he said.

Foreigners dominate the plantation, construction and mining workforce while, Sabahans largely work in the services sector. The state’s workforce stands at 1.8 million.

Statistics from Sabah Employment Association revealed mining and quarrying accounted for 29.6% of the state economic activities last year, a 20% increase from 2015.

Agriculture dropped by 15% to 19.1%, construction was 3.2% lower at 2.8% and manufacturing was 7.8%, which is 3.7% less than in 2015.

The services sectors which made up of 40.8% of the state economic activities remained unchanged.

“Not many Sabahans are enjoying the effects of the economic (mining) activities.

“The household disposable income has got smaller partly due to lesser jobs for the masses,” he said.

Sabah is the third lowest contributor to the 2016 national GDP, accounting for 6.6% or RM73.80 billion out of RM1,108 billion nationwide. – October 11, 2017.