Jobs going a-begging

 

Companies are finding difficulties in hiring Malaysians to fill the vacancies created with nearly 144,000 foreigners having left the country

SIX months ago there was fear of raising unemployment due to retrenchment but now the trend is reversed with thousands of jobs available for locals but there are few takers, Deputy Labour Director-General Datuk Sheikh Yahya Sheikh Mohamed.

He said from December last year to early this month, nearly 144,000 foreigners had left the country, creating many vacancies for locals but companies were finding it difficult to fill them.

Sheikh Yahya said during the last three months, the number of retrenchments had also decreased -- from 7,000 in February to 2,500 this month.

He added that the department had also been approached by some multinationals seeking between 400 and 500 workers each.

Sheikh Yahya feels that it is now urgent to change the mindset of local jobseekers so that they can be gainfully employed.

On the part of the department, it is conducting counselling to encourage jobseekers to accept available jobs at least to gain experience and look for better prospects later.

Sheikh Yahya said the department's proactive measures of setting up information and monitoring centres nationwide, coupled with the government's allocation for training, was beginning to show its impact as more jobless were able to obtain the necessary guidance and assistance to be employed.

So far the Human Resources Ministry had approved 40 training facilities for the jobless.

He pointed out that the training was "hands on" and in line with the requirements of the industry.

"All graduates from these training centres are assured of a job since they are trained in specific fields needed by the industries," he added.

The Malaysian Federation of Employers (MEF), while acknowledging the change in job availability, cautioned that this phenomena might be temporary.

"Actually it is too early for us to assume that the economy is on the road to recovery although there are spurts of improvement," MEF executive director Shamsuddin Bardan said.

He agreed with Sheikh Yahya that there is an urgent need to change the mindset among Malaysian job seekers.

He said that one way to do that was through education and publicity where job seekers should be exposed to the various job opportunities and the prospects available in the local labour market.

For example, he said there is much prospect in the hotel and restaurant industry as it lacks qualified chefs but Malaysians job seekers do not have much information on this. -- Bernama