KUALA LUMPUR: The government wants to get more youths involved in 3D (dirty, dangerous and difficult) work by increasing the sector’s wages.
Currently, the field is dominated by two million foreign workers.
Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran said the government was studying the matter.
He said 3D work could be made attractive to Malaysians, especially youths, as many were willing to work in the 3D sector in countries such as Singapore and Australia where the pay was higher.
“It is true that many youths work overseas in the 3D sector due to the good pay.
“If the pay is increased, perhaps more citizens would be willing to work in the country’s 3D sector.
“However, the government needs to make efforts to boost productivity and this is not easy. It requires teaching the workforce to increase productivity for higher pay,” he said at Dewan Rakyat today.
He was answering a supplementary question from Khairy Jamaluddin (BN-Umno-Rembau) on how to attract more youths into the 3D sector.
Meanwhile in reply to the main question by Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (PH-PKR-Setiawangsa) on youth unemployment, Kulasegaran said advanced countries were also facing the problem.
He said an International Labour Organisation (ILO) report showed that 45 per cent of the unemployed in the Asia Pacific region were youths, with the highest being among the 15-24 year old group.
He said steps taken by the government to tackle the issue included setting up online job portal JobsMalaysia and organising job carnivals with walk-in interviews.