625,000 new jobs to be crated 2008 to 2010
• A total of 625,000 new jobs will be created, including in the regional growth corridors during the remaining Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP) period from 2008 to 2010. Demand for knowledge workers is expected to grow at an average rate of 3.1 percent annually to form 47 percent of total jobs created, said the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of the Prime Minister’s Department in its mid-term review of the 9MP (2006-2010) released yesterday. The rising demand for skilled human capital will be met by expansion in capacity and improvement in quality of education and training at all levels with the emphasis on high performance work culture and positive values, the EPU said. A combination of short- and long- term measures will be undertaken to reduce the number of low-skilled foreign labour to 1.8 million in 2010, it said. These include improving foreign labour intake and levy system, capping the number of foreign labour by sub- sector, revising the wage system, providing better facilities and benefits to retain locals in selected sectors, and systematically phasing out labour-intensive industries. In addition, participation of women in labour force will be increased to 50 percent in 2010 from 46.1 percent in 2007, the EPU said. The Government will review the policy, strategies, labour laws and procedures related to employment of experts and highly skilled foreign labour in specific occupations, it said. The population is expected to grow at a lower rate of 1.2 per cent per annum in the remaining 9MP period to reach 28.24 million in 2010. The labour force will grow at a slower rate of 1.76 percent per annum and employment is expected to increasing marginally higher at 1.79 percent, thus reducing further the unemployment rate to 3.1 percent in 2010. In the 9MP period, with the population increasing from 26.45 million in 2005 to 27.23 million in 2007, the labour force rose by 2.1 percent per year to 11.8 million. The unemployment rate continued to decline from 3.5 percent in 2005 to 3.2 percent last year, reflecting tightening of the labour market during this period, according to the EPU. In 2006, total of 785,000 skilled Malaysians worked in various countries, especially in Singapore and developed countries, it said. The employment of foreign labour increased from 1.8 million in 2005 to 2.04 million last year, it added. - Bernama
