Malaysia will waive industry quotas to speed up the hiring of foreign workers, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said, as the nation seeks to ease labor shortages across key industries.
(Bloomberg) — Malaysia will waive industry quotas to speed up the hiring of foreign workers, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said, as the nation seeks to ease labor shortages across key industries.
Employers no longer have to comply with quota limits before hiring workers from 15 source countries, the official told reporters on Tuesday. The temporary exemption is limited to a year and applicable only to new hires, he said.
The Southeast Asian nation is accelerating hiring as the economy recovers from the pandemic, with the home ministry taking over recruitment from the ministry of human resources. In 2022, Malaysia approved only 676,070 applications out of the 1.6 million it received.
Other Highlights
- Jobs that will be offered to foreigners won’t affect Malaysian workers
- Conditional approvals will be given within three days
- Malaysia will send delegates to the source countries to help facilitate the hiring process
- “Recalibration” period for illegal foreign workers already in the country will be extended to Dec 31
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