KUALA LUMPUR: The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) foresees slower hiring in the second half of the year in the face of rising cost of doing business and weakening of the ringgit.
"Business expectations remain pessimistic as manufacturers here face rising cost of doing business. The ringgit weakening weighs on our members' sentiment as the value of imports is a lot more expensive," said FMM vice president Raja Datuk Abd Aziz Raja Muda Musa.
"There are also issues of regulatory burden on minimum wages, bureaucracy in foreign worker management which highly impacts trade and investments," he told reporters at the briefing FMM-MIER business conditions survey here today.
The FMM-MIER business conditions survey for the first half of this year received 305 responses from decision-makers of the manufacturing sector.
Also present was FMM chief executive officer Dr Yeoh Oon Tean. He noted the survey highlighted majority of manufacturers prefer that the minimum monthly wages of RM900 in Peninsular Malaysia and RM800 in East Malaysia is kept at this level, and not raised to RM1,000 or RM1,100 or RM1,200 as proposed by other parties.
The FMM is not invited to be part of the National Wages Consultative Council that determines Malaysia's minimum wages policy, despite FMM members' business being directly impacted.
Yeoh said FMM have, in the last five year, repeatedly written in to the Ministry of Human Resources on its relevance to be represented in the National Wages Consultative Council.
"Despite our numerous appeals to the government, we're still not invited to be part of the Council that formulates national policy that impacts our members," Yeoh said.