Employment Aspects of Indian Foreign Workers in Manufacturing Sector in Malaysia

Abstract

Recent years have seen an influx of foreign workers that came to Malaysia to seek employment as Malaysia’s tremendous economic growth created many employment opportunities. These foreign workers filled the job vacancies in sectors where Malaysians shy away due to dirty, dangerous and demeaning (3Ds) nature of these jobs. The demand for foreign workers from Southeast Asia and South Asia is increasing as there is a high demand for workers in plantation, construction, manufacturing and services sectors in Malaysia. Local work force is simply unable to meet the demand for labour in the Malaysian labour market. At the same time, Malaysian government doesn’t want the Malaysian economic growth to be halted due to lack of manpower. To better understand the presence of foreign workers in Malaysian labour market, this study has narrowed down its focus on Indian foreign workers (IFWs) in the manufacturing sector. Sixty IFWs employed in a furniture factory in Batu Tiga, Shah Alam, were asked to fill questionnaires which was prepared in Tamil language. Further, personal interviews were also conducted with selected informants to better understand the problems faced by IFWs. The main findings of this study are as follows. Firstly, they are found to work long hours and receive less wages. Secondly, two major expenditures incurred by these Indian foreign workers include levy payment and food expenditure. Expenditures on levy payment and food expenses comprise approximately 50 percent of their monthly income. Thirdly, this study also reveals that the quality of the accommodation facility provided by the employer is in a poor condition.