Malaysia to reduce more than 200,000 foreign workers by next year

Malaysia to reduce more than 200,000 foreign workers by next year Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia hopes to cut the number of foreign workers by more than 200,000 by next year to ease the increasing unemployment rate among locals, a news report said Tuesday.

Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar told Parliament the government set a new goal of 1.8 million foreign workers by 2010, from the 2.06 migrant workers currently in the country.

"We have managed to reduce the number of foreign workers by some 60,000 since last March.

"With the freezing of foreign workers' intake in certain sectors such as manufacturing and services, in addition to the current economic climate, we hope to further bring down the number," Syed Hamid was quoted as saying by the Star online news portal.

The government recently halted the hiring of Bangladeshis, and has tightened visa approvals for other foreign workers after criticism by labour groups who say foreign workers saturate the job market.

More than 16,000 Malaysians were laid off from October to the end of February, according to government statistics, and thousands more are expected to lose their jobs this year.

The country's official unemployment rate was recorded at 3.5 per cent last year, a 0.2-per-cent increase from 2007. Government officials predict the rate will rise to 4.5 per cent this year. (dpa)

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