Malaysia has slashed its work permit approvals for foreign workers by almost 70 percent this year, faced with the twin threat of layoffs and recession, a report said yesterday.
In January and last month, an average of 250 permits were approved daily, compared with 800 last year, following a more stringent vetting process by the authorities, a Malaysian Home Ministry official told the Star newspaper.
“Those requesting for foreign labor have to prove that they have made the effort to employ locals,” Home Ministry Senior Deputy Secretary-General Raja Azahar Raja Abdul Manap was quoted as saying.
“If they can prove it, then they will get the clearance,” he said.
A ministry spokesman was not immediately available to confirm the report.
In January, Malaysia banned the hiring of new foreigners in the manufacturing and services sectors after a report forecast 45,000 Malaysians would lose their jobs in the next few months.
Last week, the government canceled work visas issued to 55,000 Bangladeshi workers after unions said the situation for Malaysians was bleak enough without additional foreign manpower being brought in.
Malaysia is one of Asia’s largest importers of labor and has an estimated 2.2 million foreign workers, who are the mainstay of the plantation and manufacturing sectors.
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