Construction Sector Not Appealing To Locals Despite Good Money
Date：2014/12/16
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KUALA LUMPUR -- The construction industry, despite paying relatively good money, is still unable to attract local skilled and semi skilled workers.
Masters Builders Association of Malaysia (MBAM) president Matthew Tee said this was attributed to several factors, including better job choices available to Malaysians.
He said skilled workers in the sector could earn a minimum RM1,200 monthly.
While there was no problem finding local people to take up positions such as site supervisors to higher posts, he said tradesman positions such as bricklayers and painters were not attractive to them.
"It is not that we don't want to employ the locals. We have no choice but to get foreign workers to do the job," he told reporters at MBAM head office, here, Monday.
Meanwhile, MBAM Human Resource committee Mazlan Haron said high mobility in the sector was another factor that did not appeal to the locals.
He said builders often had projects in different locations and that would require the workers to relocate locations or states where projects were being carry out.
"Most local workers are not willing to relocate so often especially if they have family, as most of their time will involve moving the whole family, or having to find two places to stay, which means living expanses will double," he said.
At present operation of the local building industry depends heavily on foreign workers, with an estimated 500,000 working in the sector, mostly from India, Indonesia and Myanmar.