Unemployment may rise as demand slows


The anticipated economic slowdown is likely to result in more people losing their employment, although the retrenchments may not reach the scale seen during the 1997/1998 Asian financial crisis.

Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) secretary-general G Rajasekaran said its feedback showed the country had not experienced a situation similar to that at the onset of the financial crisis. Nonetheless, the umbrella union was concerned about the welfare of the lower income group, he said.

“We have not seen any increase in retrenchment activities as of now, but the main concern would be for next year or even the coming months. In particular, our concern would be for blue-collar workers.

“With the expected slowdown of the economy, local workers, particularly those from the lower income brackets are bracing themselves for the possibility of retrenchment and slower hiring rate, as most employers would rather use cheaper foreign labour to replace them,” Rajasekaran told The Edge Financial Daily.

If foreign labour employment is increased, particularly in the government infrastructure projects, the optimal effect of any fiscal stimulus may not be felt without high participation by local labour.

According to Rajasekaran, the downturn in certain heavy industries such as steel began right after the end of the Beijing Olympics, as demand started to slow even before the current financial turmoil set in.

Among the industries most likely to be affected are the manufacturing and services sectors, with the hotel industry already showing signs of a slowdown in activities. Retrenchment could gather pace if the situation persisted, said Rajasekaran.

Leading online job placement company, Jobstreet.Corp Bhd said a survey on employee confidence index showed that up to September this year, 50% of potential jobseekers said they were confident about their employability, compared with about 30% during the SARS outbreak in 2003.

Its chief operating officer Suresh Thiru said certain segments in the financial industry, such as stockbroking had started to show signs of a slowdown.

A random survey of 600 of it clients by Jobstreet during the first half of this year also found that 42% of companies said employment prospects would be worse than 2007.

Rajasekaran also questioned the accuracy of the country’s official unemployment rate of 3%-4%, saying that most of those who were retrenched or unemployed did not register with the government.

“We do not have unemployment benefits, therefore it makes no difference whether an unemployed registers or not. Retrenched workers would usually look for new jobs around factories, or through newspapers or job agencies for white-collar job seekers,” he said.

Source : The Edge Daily

Dah tahu tentang peraduan mudah ini? Jika belum, KLIK KAT SINI DULU!


Dapatkan terus entri terbaru blog ini ke peti email anda! KLIK JE SINI!

Share on Google Plus

About Orang Melaka

This is a short description in the author block about the author. You edit it by entering text in the "Biographical Info" field in the user admin panel.
    Blogger Comment
    Facebook Comment

3 comments:

  1. Definitely, the World is now in recession. The pound is unsteady and has decreased in value, and going down still.

    Thousands of employees were made redundant due to amalgamation of companies as a step to overcome bankrupties and the crack in the economy never seems to be abating.

    I wonder when will it pick up again. On a personal level, l have lost about 60% of total investment in America and China. This is something l never really expected.

    Some people say that the World economy is controlled by the Superpowers. They can make a prognosis what will happen to their own economy and wants the rest of the world to dance with their tune. How true this is, l do not know but we all know that America started this all. They were in bad debts and this followed by the rise in crude oil and boom!...inflation follows.

    Can someone give me a clear diagnosis of the future economy, l will be grateful.

    Thanks.

    Jacques.ah

    ReplyDelete
  2. apa pun keadaan ekonomi ada kitaran turun naik nya.

    dalam al quran terang terang ada nyatakan kitaran tersebut....rujk surah yusuf...berkatan tabir mimpi firaun.

    ok kita lihat asas ekonomi ada permintaan dan penawaran. demand and supply.

    aqad atau perjanjian yang utama apa yang di aqad prodak atau servis. subject matter.
    perlu jelas...pasti tiada spekulasi permintaan...
    contoh kenaikan minyak baru baru ...its a real speculation dealing... mereka adakan isu seolah olah permintaan jadi terhad dan barang jadi kurang...minyak adalah asas dlm mengerak ekonomi...permainan segelintir kapitalis yahudi yang menguasai 3 pasaran bursa minyak dunia,

    subprime isu di amerika hartanah di spekulasi dengan tinggi sekali...bank bank terlungkup apabila npl meningkat...lihat di malaysia pada 85 90.

    dasar luar amerika polis dunia...peperangan kuwait,irak afghanistan....akhirnya meruntuh kewangan dalaman mereka...industri senjata dan kos peperangan tidak prodaktif...patut mereka prodaktif dalam perkara yang consumable...

    apabila ekonomi dalaman statik ..peluang pekerjaan kurang ...sudah pasti semua sektor akan merosot...

    perniagaan yang terlalu mengcengkam dengan riba akhir nya memakan diri pada semua pihak

    di lihat pada keadaan ekonomi apa bila ada unsur spekulasi...tekanan interest yang tinggi....kecelaruan ekonomi bercelaru di tambah dengan faktor tak seimbang antara kuasa barat , amerika dengan negara blok timur dan juga negara membangun...sudah pasti memberi kesan pada semua....

    ini lah berlaku selagi kuasa ekonomi kapitalis berjalan...free market untuk mereka..dan di regulate dengan pelbagai peraturan bg negara yang ingin memasuki pasaran mereka..cina membangun mereka nak tekan...minyak d benua arab mreka nak kuasai...

    apa pun keadaan kitaran ekonomi akan naik juga... krisis 1973, selepas perang mesir, krisis 1982
    1997 2001 semua nya berlaku.

    apa yang perlu bagi individu

    personal financial evaluation perlu di lakukan cash flow...study.

    tabungan dalam unit amanah jangka panjang.

    kurangkan hutang dan ikut prioriti
    kredit kad sebenarnya hanya satu lifestyle untuk berbelanja kasar....

    tingkatkan prodaktiviti diri...dalam mencari sumber dana jika si anu bekerja makan gaji.

    jgn terlibat perniagaan yang anda tiada kemahiran yang anda sendiri tidak faham..prodak pemasaran,segmen.market demand dan market profail jgn terlibat perniagaan yang capital expenditure tinggi dan melibatkan man power. stock. dan jenis perniagaan yang ramai pemainnya.

    economy akan pulih...tetapi berdasar fakta dalam mana akhbar dan liputan ekonomi di khuatiri krisis ini harus parah sepert pada tahun 20an di amerika.

    mungkin 2 tahun atau mungkin lebih.

    tapi kesan yang di khuatiri adalah sektor swasta yang mana ada kemungkinan lay off dan paycut akan berlaku...malaysia kita tengok pada pertengahan tahn depan apabila gelombang di amerika,europe dan jepun sampai di pantai kita....economic slowdown mungkin ketara...

    plan do check act PDCA....itu yang setiap individu perlu buat dari sekarang.

    tq salam

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anon..thanks so much for your response.

    In simple term, mobilising the economy is one way to keep inflation down. And the way the economy can be mobilised is to increase public confidence in spending their money. If people have money and they keep it and not re-investing it, than it's 'frozen' there.

    When people spend, demand for commodity will increase, transport will move, petrol consumption will increase, companies need people to work, employment can be reduced. It's like a dominoo effect. One is related to the other.

    Banks will also need to be able to lend money to new businesses; construction sector, production industries etc but prospective businessman will be discouraged to borrow if the rate is high. They need to pay more on interest charge etc.

    The government need to cut down interest, cut on EPF so that people will have more money in their pocket to start spending. Also keep the RM to the level that people will not feel expensive to go travelling into Malaysia for Holidays etc.

    Some people say borrowing more money from IMF to stimulate the economy will help. Gordon Brown is doing just that. I dont know about that. Borrowing money will only increase the country's deficit. This will not be good.

    l agree with your opinion that the economy has a cycle. When it reaches the peak, it will come down.

    Really appreciate your opinion.

    Jacques.ah

    ReplyDelete

PERINGATAN: Portal Melaka News tidak bertanggungjawab terhadap komentar yang diutarakan melalui laman sosial ini. Ia pandangan peribadi pemilik akaun dan tidak semestinya menggambarkan pendirian sidang redaksi kami. Segala risiko akibat komen yang disiarkan menjadi tanggungjawab pemilik akaun sendiri.