THE government admits there is a labour shortage but cannot bring in more migrant workers due to the recession and Covid-19, said Human Resources Minister M. Saravanan in Parliament today.

According to the minister, the government also wants to prioritise Malaysian labour to reduce unemployment and get out of recession.

“While it is true that we have a huge shortage in labour, we are unable to bring in more as it will not resolve our unemployment issues,” Saravanan (Tapah-BN) said.

“We have also asked employers to hire Malaysians first,” he said during his winding-up speech for the ministry on the supply bill 2022 (committee stage).

The minister said Malaysia was also unable to allow more workers to enter the country due to the number of Covid-19 cases and lower vaccination rates in source countries.

He said that countries such as India and Bangladesh, for example, are at different stages of Covid-19 vaccination.

“Borders are still closed because there could be another Covid-19 surge,” the minister said, adding that the government will monitor the first batch of 32,000 workers that have been allowed to come to Malaysia.

“We will see if they can comply with the SOPs,” Saravanan said.

The Dewan Rakyat later approved the budgets for the Human Resources Ministry (RM1.29 billion), and Entrepreneur Development and Co-operatives Ministry (RM550 million). – November 30, 2021.