THE government will not be lifting the bar against foreign workers for now as its priority is to make sure that Malaysians have jobs, said Human Resources Minister M. Saravanan.

Saravanan told The Malaysian Insight the freeze on foreign hires is crucial to lower the unemployment rate. 

“We have made a policy decision that the freeze will last until the year-end and there is no compromise on that. It is one of the measures we have taken to reduce unemployment,” he said.

Putrajaya announced a freeze on foreign workers in June after the movement-control order (MCO) was eased. This was to enable Malaysians who had lost their jobs to find new employment.

The ministry is staring at more than 800,000 unemployed Malaysians since the MCO was enforced on March 18.

“This includes fresh graduates and those coming back from Singapore and elsewhere.”

According to data from the Statistics Department (SD), the unemployment rate rose to 5.3% in May, with 826,100 people jobless, before dipping to 4.9% in June.

“Given this positive recovery outlook, the annual unemployment rate is expected to be between 3.5% and 5.5% this year,” Saravanan said.

This is based on the trend of a 10% reduction in employment loss each month registered by the Employment Insurance System (EIS), he said.

EIS data for June and July showed such a reduction in loss of employment, from 18,579 to 16,660 jobs.

Locals first

To address unemployment, Saravanan said Putrajaya has come up with various initiatives, including the Myfuture Jobs Career and Skills Carnival which kicked off in Tapah, Perak, two weeks ago.

“We went to Slim River after that and more than 10,000 people have registered.

“Next we are looking at Hulu Selangor and then Johor. We will be going all around Malaysia.”

The ministry is a bridge linking employers with employees, he said.

“This is one way of reaching out to those in the rural areas and connecting them with the job market.”

As for when the ban on foreign workers will end, Saravanan said the government is monitoring all the various sectors.

“The loan moratorium will be lifted next month. After that, we will know the real situation of the small and medium enterprises.

“We also have a sizeable number of (legal) foreign workers here who need work.”

There were about two million documented foreign workers in the country.

“We will identify the foreign workers according to the allowed sectors, which are construction and plantation, and deploy them.”

Only then would the government decide if there was a need to import more workers, he said.

“For now, we are looking at unemployed locals and documented foreign workers. Once we address their concerns, we will look into bringing in fresh foreign workers.”

As for which sectors would be allowed to hire these workers, a decision will be made next month. – August 27, 2020.