The booming East Asain nation’s move follows the similar measure adopted by Singapore that announced recently that it might put a ban on foreign workers due to shrinking employment opportunities.
A number of Nepali workers leaving for Malaysia during the first four months of current fiscal year remained at 16,806 against 16,360 recorded same period last year. According to data of Department of Labor and Employment Promotion, a total of 50, 526 Nepali youths went to Malaysia during the fiscal year 2007/08. More than 400,000 Nepali workers are estimated to work there.
State news agency Bernama quoted the director-general of the Labor Department, Ismail Abdul Rahim, as saying that a freeze was one of the measures the government would take to control the rise in unemployment.
He said that was one of the options that the ministry was studying to assist local people who have been struggling to find work in Malaysia where, according to official figures, 2.1 million foreigners work in Malaysia.
Some local non-governmental organizations estimate that actual number of migrant workers may be as many as double that official number if illegal immigrants are taken into account.
These illegal immigrants work mostly on construction sites, services sector as office cleaners and security guards, and as general workers in the palm oil and rubber plantations.
The Malaysian government has forecast local unemployment in the country of 27 million people to reach 3.3 percent this year. Economic growth is set to slide to 3.5 per cent next year from an estimated 5.5 per cent this year.
Malaysia´s Human Resources Minister S. Subramaniam said on Tuesday that, as of last month, 28,000 workers in various sectors had been retrenched.
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