One of the key
highlights of the Budget 2020 is the introduction of Malaysians@Work
initiative, aimed to create better employment opportunites for youth and women,
also to reduce over-dependence on low-skilled foreign workers. The
Malaysians@Work is divided into four programmes as follows:
The
programme is so far more like an ‘incentive scheme’, it is all about
incentives. According to the Minister of Finance Lim Guan Eng, the Government
anticipates that the Malaysians@Work initiative would create an additional
350,000 jobs for Malaysians and reduce over-dependence on foreign workers by
more than 130,000. However, it would cost RM6.5 billion over five years,
according to Lim.
Do
we really need to spend this huge amount of money as ‘incentive’ for those who
are supposed to work (e.g. the graduates)? If the purpose of doing so is to
encourage the youths to work, the Government should instead ‘rewards’ those who
are able to secure a job right after they graduate. Also, is giving out hiring
incentives to the employers a correct way to create employment opportunites for youths and women? Wouldn’t employers simply
just replace the elderly employees with the youths or women given the current
economic condition?
The
Government should look into the root causes behind the unemployment rate. What are
the reasons for fresh graduates or women to be unemployed? What caused the
country to be over-dependent on foreign workers?
According
to Bank Negara Malaysia, between 2010 and 2017, the number of tertiary
graduates entering the workforce surpassed the number of jobs created for them.
Of the total vacancies in July 2019, 69.4% was for low-skilled jobs (MIDF,
2019). Skills mismatch is the main issue faced by our fresh graduates. In a
survey conducted by the World Bank and Talent Corporation in 2014, 90% of
companies were found to believe that graduates should have more industrial
training by the time they graduate. However, less than 10% of companies had
experience in developing relevant programmes with universities. Therefore, instead
of giving incentives, the Government should solve the skills mismatch problem through
funding on on-the-job skills training and/or internships of a year with relevant companies. And also create more job opportunities for
our skilled labour force. The latter could be done by attracting more
investments from foreign and multinational companies.
A
two-year incentive for locals who replace foreign workers seems good on the
surface but this is only a short-term solution. The low-skilled foreign workers
are mostly employed in sectors that are deemed dirty, dangerous and difficult
(3D). To reduce our addiction to cheap labour, technology and automation is a
better solution. Thus, more should be allocated in helping the locals to
acquire the right skills and knowledge in technology, as well as businesses to
get onto the automation track with R&D.
It’s
only 11 days after the announcement of Budget 2020. We need more details to see
how Malaysians@Work will actually be implemented. What do you think about this
programme? Comment below and let us know!
Reference:
1.
2020 Budget Speech by YB Tuan Lim Guan Eng
2.
Bank Negara Malaysia (2018), Annual Report
3.
MIDF (2018), Full-Employment Condition despite Challenging External Front
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