Cover Story: Do we need so many foreign workers? SHOULD migrant workers in Malaysia go on strike, the economy would lite

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Cover Story Do We Need So Many Foreign Workers Should Migrant Workers In Malaysia Go On Strike The Economy Would Lite 1 (33.38 KiB) Viewed 27 times

Cover Story: Do we need so many foreign workers? SHOULD migrant workers in Malaysia go on strike, the economy would literally collapse. That is how heavily dependent we are on foreign cheap labor. For many decades now, the government has talked about reducing the number of foreign workers. Temporary employment passes statistics from the Immigration Department of Malaysia show that the number of foreign workers dropped from 2.06 million in 2008 to 1.76 million as at July 31 this year, says the Ministry of Human Resources (MOHR). "Foreign workers are heavily employed in sectors requiring physical use and those of a less conducive environment," MOHR says in an email to The Edge. Meanwhile, the percentage of documented foreign workers in Malaysia has dropped from 19.3% in 2008 to 11.9% as at the second quarter of 2018. However, it is a known fact that undocumented foreign workers outnumber documented ones by a large margin. It is estimated that for every documented foreign worker, there are 2.5 undocumented ones. Together, they number six million, or one-fifth of Malaysia's population of 30 million. The 11th Malaysia Plan set a cap on total employment of foreign workers to not more than 15%, or 2.3 million of the total workforce, by 2020. But many believe the country is far off the target Source: Adapted from "Cover Story: Do we need so many foreign workers?", The Edge, 2018