Jobseeker News in Brief (February 2009)

Higher Unemployment for 2009

Economists are projecting Malaysia’s jobless rate to rise to between 4 and 4.5 per cent this year following a third-quarter 2008 spike when lay-offs were four times those in Q2, says the online news portal, The Malaysian Insider.

It noted that some 11,560 workers were retrenched in Q3.

And the rate of job losses is expected to accelerate this year, with estimates that between 200,000 and 400,000 people could be laid off should the global slowdown bite deeper into consumer demand.

The news portal said tor export-reliant Malaysia - the country’s external trade to GDP is 172 per cent - manufacturing would be hit hardest. And the electrical and electronic (E&E) and automotive-related sectors would likely be bruised most.

Hollywood coming to Malaysia

With more than 100 feature films to its credit such as Babe, The Hulk, The Golden Compass, The Chronicles of Narnia and Night In The Museum, Rhythm is internationally recognised as one of Hollywood’s top visual effects and animation facilities, The Star newspaper reported.

“Rhythm is not outsourcing or doing back office work in Malaysia. The work done here will be the same sort of thing being done in LA. The Malaysian studio will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rhythm in the US,” said Rhythm senior advisor Shahril Ibrahim.

Malaysia was chosen because of Multimedia Development Corp’s (MDec) support for its sort of work, he said. Cost was another huge factor.

Move to lure China and HK varsities to Malaysia

It quoted MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat as saying that similar effort was also being made to court the top three universities in Hong Kong.

Ong added that the move was made by certain parties in the private sector as part of the plan to boost Johor’s development region of Iskandar Malaysia.

“There has never been such a precedent (for China to set up a branch campus abroad),” he said.

Labour Department offers to find new jobs

The Labour De partment will secure new jobs for the 45,000 workers given early Chinese New Year leave should the employers fail to extend their em ployment after the festive pe riod, reported The Star.

Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said the department had a mechanism in place to assist these workers if they were laid off permanently.

However, he said the 122 companies involved had given an assurance that the workers would be employed again.

More than 45,000 workers comprising locals and foreigners from the 122 companies in the Klang Valley, Penang and Johor Baru would be temporarily laid off without pay for two to three weeks from the festive period.

Ministry to stop hiring foreigners

The Human Resources Ministry is pushing for a temporary freeze on the hiring of foreign workers, The News Starits Times said.

Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said a letter would be sent to the Home Ministry in view of the high retrenchment of workers following the global economic recession.

"We want industries to stop recruiting foreign workers and offer jobs to Malaysians instead."

Dr Subramaniam will meet Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar soon to discuss the matter.

The cabinet had recently approved a special allocation of RM100 million for the Retrenchment Fund to retrain retrenched workers and another RM70 million to facilitate employment of retrenched employees and graduates seeking jobs.
Two special committees have been set up to manage the funds.

10,000 jobless so far since Jan 1

More than 10,000 Malaysians have lost their jobs since Jan 1, according to Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) executive director Shamsuddin Bardan, the Star newspaper reported. He said more were expected to lose their jobs in the days ahead as companies, particularly in the manufacturing sector, struggled to stay afloat. In an urgent appeal to the Government, he said it was of utmost importance for the second economic stimulus package to be released fast so that companies could know clearly where they stood. .

(Source: Jobsdb Malaysia)