KUALA LUMPUR: The Human Resources Ministry is carrying out a study to determine the actual percentage of foreign workforce needed by Malaysia, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
Its Deputy Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Abdul Muttalib said the study would also include the 'dirty, dangerous and difficult' or 3D jobs that are mostly filled by foreigners.
"These 3D jobs are the ones that the locals were said to have refused to do. However, it is equally frustrating when some employers have the perception that the jobs that they are offering would not appeal to locals and took the easy way by hiring foreigners.
"The study, along with other measures, would hopefully reduce our dependency on foreign labour and achieve the 15 per cent foreign workers of the overall workforce in Malaysia by 2020.
"There are currently 2.139 million foreign workers not including illegal ones, mostly from Bangladesh and Indonesia. There are currently an estimate of 13.8 million workers in Malaysia, of which 1.6 million and 6 million are in civil and private sectors, respectively," he said in reply to a question by Nasrudin Hassan (Pas-Temerloh).
The other measures, he said, include encourage usage of machinery for intensive labour, job fair organised by ministry nationwide, and stringent requirements among employers in hiring foreign workers.