Labour shortages pushing employers to turn to automation
More than half of Japanese businesses in Malaysia are struggling to recruit talent, especially those in the manufacturing and retail sectors, according to reports.
Free Malaysia Today reported last week a survey from the Japan External Trade Organization (Jetro), which collected data from 4,892 companies worldwide, including 300 Japanese firms in Malaysia.
"More than 60% of companies in Selangor, Johor, and Kuala Lumpur, where many companies are based, are experiencing a shortage in human resources," Jetro said in a statement quoted by FMT.
The challenge of finding employees is also driving 51.5% of Japanese organisations in Malaysia to automate. Other reasons include:
- Sophistication of production technology (78.2%)
- Rising labour costs (73.3%)
But the challenge of finding employees capable of handling automation technology has been hampering these efforts for nearly 60% of the respondents, according to the report.
"Although other countries also had high response rates for this reason, Malaysia ranked the highest, indicating these companies are having a tough time hiring people with the right skills," the report said as quoted by FMT.
Warnings about impact of AI on jobs
Former Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar had previously underscored the need to retrain 50% of Malaysia's workforce amid warnings that 4.5 million Malaysians could lose their jobs following the rapid rise of artificial intelligence.
"With the advent of Industrial Revolution 4.0, there is an urgent need for us to transform the national workforce into a skilled workforce to remain relevant," Sivakumar previously said.
Amid these challenges in recruitment, however, 50.2% of Japanese firms in Malaysia said they are eyeing a business expansion in the country in the next year or two.
Malaysia's unemployment rate in November 2023 reverted to pre-pandemic levels at 3.3%, down from the 3.4% a month prior, Bernama reported.
