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More local labours are demanded in plantations, factories and construction in Malaysia

MIRI: Oil palm plantations, timber processing factories and construction are sectors that need local workforce.

This was disclosed by state Labour Department director Datu August Buma, who said the three sectors were short of local workers.

“The ‘3D perception’ on such sectors – Dirty, Difficult and Dangerous – seems to make the locals shy away from having interest in applying for jobs in the three sectors.

“And with such perception, it causes the high demand for non-resident, or foreign workers,” he said when contacted recently.

On a related matter, August said skilled labour formed only 28 per cent of the country’s total labour force, stressing that this needed to be increased to at least 35 per cent by 2020.

“Thus, Ministry of Human Resources plays an important role to cater for the supply and demand mechanism, including to offer vocational and technical skills through 32 vocational institutions under the ministry,” he said.

For Sarawak to achieve the status of developed state by 2030 and high income state by 2020, he said locals must be trained and developed as skilled labour force.

“For example, in developed countries such as Singapore, at least 50 per cent of the workforce is made up of skilled labour; in Germany, 80 per cent of the workforce are skilled labour as compared to lawyers,” he added.

Meanwhile, August said in Sarawak, the unemployment rate was 3.8 per cent which was consistent, as according to international statistics an unemployment rate of below four per cent would be considered full-employment.

With the state emphasising on industrialisation that would highly require new skills, he advised the young people to equip themselves with skills to add to their employability.