Penang Contractors Must Hire Locals

Companies which are awarded contracts by the Penang state government must hire local workers, instead of foreigners, effective immediately.

The hire-local-first ruling must be adhered, even this means the affected companies will be spending more money to hire the more expensive local talents and labors.

Those which fail to comply with this new regulation will be blacklisted and will even have their contract withdrawn.

The move is also aligned with the federal government’s intention to reduce the number of foreign workers in the country from 2.2 million to 1.8 million in two years time.

The Penang government is under intense pressure to minimize the figure of unemployed people as the country weathers the repeat of the economic downturn happening 10 years ago.

In the recent run, the state has also been receiving increasing complaints from the local job seekers who were unable to find jobs from companies operating in the state. On further investigation, it was discovered that foreigners, who were willing to accept job offers at a much lower salary, were preferred more than the local job seekers.

Other posts you may want to read:

1. Penang Layoffs Not Critical: Guan Eng
2. Penang Wants RM500M Retrenchment Fund
3. Yo-yo Employment Market in Melaka
4. Review Salary of Local Malaysians
5. Malaysia Employment Laws To Be Amended
6. B Braun Penang to Expand
7. Intel to Shut Down Penang Plants
8. Foreign Workers To Go, But Not So Soon

Author's bio: Zul is the founder and principal contributor for the SKOR Career blog. He is the author of two books, The Malaysian Job Seeker's Dilemma and Buat Duit Tanpa Kerja Makan Gaji (How to Make Money Without a Job), available in major book stores nationwide. You can reach him at zulkiflimusa[at]gmail.com.