This bid to cut labour costs will be seen in nearly all sectors of the economy, according to the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF).
“The prospects of getting employed will be very challenging,” MEF executive director Shamsuddin Bardan told FMT.
He said most employers would try their best to maintain their current workforce and retrench only in worst case scenarios. Increasing automation would be one of the factors leading to such scenarios, he added.
“My advice to fresh job seekers is not to be choosy and to accept offers even if the pay is low,” he said. “They should try to get employed and get some working experience until the economy improves.”
He said companies faced additional labour costs with the government’s decision to raise the minimum wage and to place foreign workers under the protection of the Social Security Organisation (Socso).
The annual figure of youths entering the job market was between 450,000 and 500,000 in the last few years and Shamsuddin said he expected the number to be in the same region next year.
He gave the example of the services sector as one where jobs will be scarce, attributing this to the expected drop in the number of Chinese tourists entering the country.
He also spoke of the palm oil industry, saying it had already gone into the doldrums. It now costs RM1,800 to produce one tonne of palm fruits, but the market price is only RM1,700 a tonne.
Human Resource Minister M Kulasegaran recently said more than 21,000 people lost their jobs this year, half of them in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. He said a quarter of them were diploma and degree holders who held high paying jobs as managers, technicians and professionals.