GEORGE TOWN: Penang’s electronics industry is facing a shortage of production workers after orders started to pick up early last month, according to a job outsourcing company.

The problem is compounded by local workers who prefer to enrol instead in the government’s retraining scheme where they are paid more, said Inter Resources Consulting Global Search (M) Sdn Bhd managing director Michael Heah.

He said locals were not keen to work long hours in factories for RM500 to RM600 a month,preferring the retraining scheme for unemployed graduates and retrenched workers where they were taught new skills and received a monthly allowance of between RM500 and RM800.

“Factory managements are hard-pressed to get their production lines running to meet demand deadlines,” he said in a statement.

Heah said the electronics industry started to recover last month with the semiconductor and consumer electronics sector stepping up their recruitment drive to get more locals to fill vacancies.

“To make matters worse, the intake of foreign workers has been frozen. We appeal to the Government to lift the freeze in the sector,” he said.

Free Industrial Zone Penang Companies Association human resources convenor Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan-Chik said there were now signs of improvement in their order books with some companies facing shortages in material and labour.

While echoing Heah’s call for the Government to lift the freeze on the hiring of foreigners, Muhammad Bakhtiar said their recruitment should be more selective.

MTUC president Syed Shahrir Syed Mohamud said the shortage would continue to exist as long as the Government did not implement a minimum salary scale.

“Electronics and textile manufacturers pay among the lowest for production workers in the region so that is why it is difficult to entice local workers,” he said.

Remark form Star paper