KUALA LUMPUR: The move by the government to review the levy rate on foreign workers enables a better regulation of their entry based on the country’s projected needs.
It also encourages employers to hire more local workers and, therefore, reduces the rate of unemployment in the country.
Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) deputy president Abdullah Sani Abdul Halim said the streamlining of levy rate could determine quotas according to sectors to avoid dumping of foreign workers in the country.
He said certain sectors needed a large number of local workers, such as the plantation and manufacuting sectors, while the payment of levy by employers differed according to sectors.
“It also ensures that efforts being made will enable local workers to be given priority so as to reduce the unemployment rate among locals before recruiting foreign workers on a quota basis if the rate is raised or maintained,” he said when contacted by Bernama yesterday.
He said this when asked to comment on the special address by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on current developments and the government’s financial position at the Putrajaya International Conventions Centre here.
Abdullah Sani said the fixing of the levy rate could also reduce maltreatment faced by certain foreign workers in the country.
“They are most likely to be cheated by irresponsible agents or those interested only in reaping profits and, with the streamlining, the government can control and monitor the entry rate of foreign workers into the country and, thus, curb the number of illegal workers,” he said.
In the special address, the prime minister announced that the government will review the levy rate imposed on foreign workers in the country this year. — Bernama