MEF lauds efforts to prioritise employment of locals over expats, foreign workers

MEF lauds efforts to prioritise employment of locals over expats, foreign workers

01 Nov 2020

The government’s decision to prioritise the employment of locals by requiring employers to advertise job vacancies in MYFutureJobs portal before hiring new expatriates or foreign workers is a positive step to resolve unemployment issues, especially for fresh graduates.

Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) president Datuk Dr Syed Hussain Syed Husman said it supports the move to give locals the priority as many local graduates are unemployed and without jobs.

“Employers intending to hire expatriates or foreign workers should first consider offering the vacancies to locals because this would ensure that Malaysians are given priority in employment opportunities,” he said in a statement.

“Employers must justify their requirement for new expatriates or foreign workers based on skills that are needed.”

Syed Hussain was responding to the recent Human Resources Minister Datuk M. Saravanan’s statement that effective Nov 1, applications for foreign workers or expatriates will only be considered if no Malaysians are suitable for the positions.

It is understood that employers who wish to hire foreign workers through the rehiring programme, as well as the recruitment of expatriates, are required to advertise the vacancies first on the national employment portal, MYFutureJobs (www.myfuturejobs.gov.my).

The advertisement on vacancies at MYFutureJobs should not be less than 14 days for the rehiring programme of foreign workers in the country and 30 days for the application of expatriates. This will be followed by an interview with the candidates by representatives of employers and SOCSO.

Employers are also required to register and apply through the Integrated Foreign Workers Management System (ePPAX) as a condition of compliance with labour laws for the employment of non-citizen workers.

“As employers, where we can we must try to hire locals. This should be the future way forward,” said Syed Hussain.

The American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) however says its is greatly troubled with the announcement.

It said in making the decision, it fears that the government may not have considered how this action would impact foreign investment (FDI) and decrease the motivation of multinational companies (MNCs) to do business in Malaysia which ultimately paves the way to the very problem the Human Resources ministry is trying to curb – the unemployment of Malaysians.

AMCHAM said its member companies, through their investments and business models, have created employment opportunities for Malaysians for decades, not just in the form of jobs but by providing high skills training and career advancement.

US companies have been pioneers and are leaders in FDI into the country; in 2019, Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) recorded this to have reached RM28.63 billion it said in a statement on Saturday.

Source: Bernama Posted on : 01 November 2020