Sectors involving construction, agriculture, and plantations are still experiencing worker shortages.
Even though more than 667,000 foreign workers were successfully brought in to meet the demands of the five critical sectors, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution.
“For the construction sector, a projection of 301,000 foreign workers is needed and 220,230 are added. There is still a reduction of almost 80,000.
“The projection of 90,000 foreign workers for the agricultural sector, but the entry is 53,638. In the plantation sector, the projection is 57,000, but the entry is 52,123,” he said at a press conference of the committee meeting on managing foreign workers at the Kuala Lumpur Trade Center.
According to FMT, Saifuddin said the manufacturing and service sectors were experiencing an excessive surplus.
However, employers in the service sector are among the many categorized as high-risk. That is, the level of compliance with conditions and laws is low, involving the welfare of employees.
“If the employer involved fails to do so, the regulatory agency will continue to conduct the next step, such as an investigation.
“If it is related to the violation of certain sections and laws, he can lead to the investigation papers being opened and ending in court,” he said.
In the meantime, Saifuddin acknowledged the possibility of misuse of foreign workers’ passes in the service sector following the excessive surplus.
“For me to say that did not happen is unreasonable. It happened, but at what level did they violate, disobey at all? Nope.
“From our monitoring it happened. When that happens, of course action will be taken against the employer,” he said.
In the meantime, Saifuddin said his side also approved an application from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (Motac) regarding the opening of the theme park sub-sector for foreign workers in the meeting earlier.
“We have 78 theme parks in the country and the need for workers now is almost 13,000. So there is a need for another 2,000,” he said.
Last month, Saifuddin said more than 550,000 foreign workers were brought in. It was done in stages to meet the demands of five critical sectors.
This amount is under the Foreign Workers Employment Flexibility Plan And Recalibration Plan For Unauthorized Foreign Immigrants 2.0. Specifically for the Workforce Recalibration Program.
Sectors involving construction, agriculture, and plantations are still experiencing worker shortages.