The Malaysian Insight

THE uncertainty following a change of government in the May 9 elections and global economic headwinds are forcing many Malaysian employers to freeze hiring in 2019.

The services sector is expected to be the worst hit in the hiring freeze, said Malaysian Employers’ Federation (MEF) executive director Shamsuddin Bardan.

“Many sectors’ productivity has not increased, some even decreased, and employers do not want to hire more.

“Many policies are still unclear after the change in government and employers are unwilling to create new jobs as it will incur extra costs, so the employment prospects are looking bleak,” Shamsuddin told The Malaysian Insight.

High cost of living, low wages, automation and the payment of social security insurance for legal foreign workers are some of the reasons many employers are holding back on hiring.

The service sector is also bracing for a 7% to 8% drop in tourist arrivals, following the government’s plan to implement a departure tax next year.

“Not only the services industry, all sectors are avoiding increasing their manpower,” he said.

The government should assist both employers and employees, much like how Singapore did when workers faced mass retrenchments, he said.

The Singaporean government up-skilled workers and helped the retrenched to find new jobs or retrained them.

Malaysia SME Association president Kang Hua Keong said mass retrenchments are on the horizon as the country heads towards greater automation.

More and more jobs can be performed by computers and machines and in the future, businesses will no longer require workers to run them, he said.

“Industry 4.0 focuses on knowledge, so employers will only hire highly skilled workers. If local workers and graduates cannot meet the market’s demands, more and more people will be unemployed in the future,” Kang said.

Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran said more than 21,000 workers were retrenched this year, with one out of four being a diploma or degree holder. These included senior managers, skilled workers and specialists.

MEF previously predicted that up to 50,000 workers could lose their jobs because of policies by the previous government and Shamsuddin said, the number of job-seekers will only increase while the number of jobs remains stagnant.

MEF represents business owners and companies from 22 sectors, including mining, banking and hotels. The sectors employ an estimated 6.4 million workers or a third of the workforce. – December 26, 2018.