KUALA LUMPUR – The government is mulling a plan to implement a multi-tier levy system for businesses seeking foreign workers, aiming to discourage over-reliance on migrants, said Human Resources Minister Steven Sim.
While the specifics of the levy structure are still in development, one proposed approach involves imposing lower levies on businesses with a lesser demand for migrant workers and correspondingly higher levies on those with higher requirements.
He outlined that the revenue generated from this levy would be allocated to support the development of local small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) workforce capabilities.
“One of the policy actions taken by the government is to reduce the dependency on migrant workers.
“Secondly, (we want) to assist the local industries to automate, upscale and move to a higher job offer for Malaysians,” Sim told reporters during a luncheon with the media this afternoon.
“What it does is that it will improvise, and provide incentives for companies with a lower dependence on migrant workers. The formula has still not been approved by the cabinet.”
“Perhaps one mechanism is lower levies for those with lower dependency (on migrant workers). The more workers you require, the higher the levy costs. Part of this levy will be given back (to the industries) to assist SMEs, for example, to upskill, automate and train Malaysian workers to pick up higher skilled jobs within industries.”
He said this initiative sought to encourage companies to lessen their dependence on migrant labour, aligning with the national objective of limiting the migrant worker population to 2.5 million, which constitutes 15% of the total workforce.
Sim highlighted that presently, the country hosted approximately 2.2 million migrant workers, with approvals for new worker quotas on hold.
On another matter, Sim said the ministry and the Labour Department were looking to set up a unit to deal with complaints of abuses against migrant workers.
“When a migrant worker reports abuses, for example, employers not renewing their licences, or not allowing them to be legalised through legalisation programmes, if they report (these abuses), they may not have a home to go to,” he said.
“We are setting up a specialised unit to deal with complaints and issues facing migrants because we know sometimes they would require interpreters or perhaps even temporary shelter, they would require information and more awareness on their rights if they come forward.”
He also said the unit would help the migrants obtain legal aid if needed.
“We want to ensure that migrant workers who are facing this problem (of abuses) can come forward, and their grouses and complaints will be dealt with, according them the protection and rights (needed),” Sim said. – May 9, 2024