A SEVERE shortage of workers has forced Malaysian companies to reject orders, losing billions of ringgit in the process, Reuters reported today.

Companies from oil palm plantations to semiconductor manufacturers are hampered by a lack of more than a million workers, said the report.

Migrant workers have not returned to Malaysia even though a freeze on foreign labour was lifted in February while locals are not interested in jobs in the factory, plantation and service sectors which they regard as dirty, dangerous and difficult.

“Despite the greater optimism in outlook and increase in sales, some companies are gravely hampered in their ability to fulfil orders,” said Soh Thian Lai, president of the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers, which represents more than 3,500 companies.

Palm oil growers are at breaking point, said Carl Bek-Nielsen, chief executive director of oil palm grower United Plantations.

“The situation is dire and very much like having to play a game of football against 11 men but only being allowed to field seven,” he said. 

Human Resources Minister M. Saravanan last week assured employers that Malaysia would soon sign a contract to enable the hiring of workers from Indonesia, Bangladesh and Cambodia. 

Official data show Malaysia lacks at least 1.2 million workers in the manufacturing, plantation and construction sectors.

In April, Saravanan said companies had asked to hire 475,000 migrant workers but the ministry had approved just 2,065, rejecting some over incomplete information or lack of compliance with regulations.

Senior Works Minister Fadillah Yusof has blamed the lack of workers in some sectors on rising palm oil prices, which had attracted workers from other industries to join the plantation sector.

“The price of palm oil is good now and they (palm oil industry) are willing to pay any fee to hire workers, and one of the victims (of the poaching) is the construction sector.

Claims of forced labour have also hit industries hard.

A Bangladeshi diplomatic source told Reuters Dhaka does not “want workers to end up falling into a cycle of debt trap”, adding that Malaysia wants to hire 200,000 Bangladeshi workers within a year.

The US has banned seven Malaysian companies over the last two years over what it called forced labour. – June 12, 2022.