KUALA LUMPUR: The number of foreign workers in Malaysia has decreased by 13 per cent as of Oct 15 this year, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
Deputy Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Mohamad said there were 2,132,578 active and legally employed foreign workers as of Oct 15, compared with 2,452,010 during the same period last year, a drop of 319,432 workers.
He said the figures were based on data from the Immigration Department.
As of Oct 15, the manufacturing sector led with 622,388 workers, followed by construction (589,684), services (390,607), plantations (263,131), agriculture (158,628), foreign domestic helpers (107,375) and mining and quarrying (765).
He said the ministry had long restricted the employment of foreign workers to six formal sectors, namely manufacturing, construction, services, plantations, agriculture and mining and quarrying, as well as their respective sub-sectors.
“For the informal sector, only the employment of foreign domestic helpers is allowed for now. The purpose of this restriction is to give priority to local workers to fill available vacancies before the positions are offered to foreign workers,” he said.
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