KUALA LUMPUR: Employers of engineers should pay their talent better to avoid losing them to companies in neighbouring Singapore, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
"To solve the problem of the lack of engineers, companies could pay salaries that are on par with Singaporean companies," said Investment, Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Liew Chin Tong.
"If they receive two-thirds the salary offered in Singapore, they would choose to remain in Malaysia.
"With increasing competition and more companies coming into our country, they should be paying higher salaries."
Liew said this in response to a supplementary question from Mohd Isam Mohd Isa (BN-Tampin).
Mohd Isam asked about the government's efforts to develop local talents to fulfill the needs of the electrical and electronics (E&E) industry, and about the government's measures to prevent losing local talents involving engineers.
He claimed that the E&E industry required 50,000 engineers, but there were only 5,000 of them in the local workforce currently.
Liew added that besides offering higher pay, educational institutions should also offer programmes relevant to present industry needs and requirements.
He added that foreign companies who choose to invest in Malaysia have also been urged to set up their centres of excellence to groom local talent.