Malaysia is starting to hire foreign workers after about a year and a half due to coronavirus. Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yakub made the announcement in a statement on Friday.
According to a Reuters report, foreign workers will be hired in key sectors such as palm oil plantations and rubber gloves factories. These sectors in Malaysia are mainly dependent on migrant workers. The Coronavirus Emergency Task Force has agreed to hire staff in these sectors.
The Special Committee on Epidemics today agreed to the proposed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the entry of foreign workers into Malaysia, a statement from the Prime Minister of Malaysia said. This consent has been given to meet the demand of the workers especially in the tree planting sector. However, it has not been decided yet when and how many foreign workers will be hired in which sector.
In Malaysia, foreign workers work to make everything from gloves to iPhones. About 2 million legal foreign workers work in the country.
Last month, the Malaysian government said it would give priority to repatriating 32,000 foreign workers to alleviate the labor crisis. The labor crisis has intensified as workers from Malaysia, the world’s second-largest palm oil producer, return to their home countries in Corona. The rubber gloves industry has also appealed to the government to allow foreign workers to return to meet the growing demand for workers.
Hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis work in Malaysia, a Southeast Asian country. Many people from Malaysia, like other countries, returned to the country after the Corona epidemic broke out early last year. From then on, they did not have the opportunity to return to work, now that obstacle is being overcome.
In addition, Malaysia has been opening its doors to foreign tourists since mid-November, according to a Reuters report.
