Malaysia told to align foreign labour policies with market demand

Kuala Lumpur

MALAYSIA should look at labour market demands more closely when determining foreign worker inflows as its current approval system doesn't sufficiently reflect the needs of industries, the World Bank said.

The government must improve its existing evidence-based system for identifying labour shortages in the economy and change its levy structure, the World Bank said in a report released in Kuala Lumpur on Friday. The use of a combination of quotas and levies that are "semi-static" and seldom change can't keep up with varying market conditions, it said.