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Datuk William Ng
KUCHING (May 1): The Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Malaysia (Samenta) has called on the government to convene a task force to address severe disruption in the job market.
Chairman Datuk William Ng said the Covid-19 pandemic and new technologies had severely disrupted the country’s job market.
“While our unemployment rate stands at a low 3.5 per cent, this does not take into account underemployment or the mismatch in qualifications and jobs.
“Employers, including SMEs (small and medium enterprises), are finding it difficult to hire qualified employees with the right skillsets, and have to settle for whatever is the next best.
“This severely impacts productivity growth and forces employers to retrain at considerable costs,” he said in his Labour Day message.
Ng observed that workers, including gig workers, had found themselves underemployed.
He noted that the think-tank EMIR research in a recent statement had stated that underemployment was “structural”.
He added that the World Economic Forum had said that by 2025, more than half of all workers must be re-skilled.
“Even Nobel Laureate Sir Christopher Pissarides has chimed in and said that, ‘digital technologies are disrupting labour markets and the way they work because they require different skills’.”
Given this, Ng stressed that the lose-lose situation must be addressed urgently.
According to him, this is not only to solve the issue of job market disruption, but to map out the availability of a trained workforce to support the growth of the country’s industries, provide high value jobs that are more meaningful for Malaysians, and help businesses, especially SMEs to upgrade their workforce and digital capabilities.
He opined that the current piecemeal and reactive approach was dangerous and regressive; resulting in the increasing disconnect between policymakers and the industry in areas such as minimum wage, labour laws, social security coverage, and employee benefits.
“A high-level, industry-led Future of Work Task Force is long overdue, and must include not only the relevant government agencies, but also the industry, including SMEs, so as to address this gap and prepare Malaysia and Malaysians for a changed workplace,” he added.
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