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JobsDB Moments (December 2009)

Doctorates Amongst Registered in Ministry's Job Portal

DOCTORATE holders are among those who registered with JobsMalaysia, a government portal to help graduates get jobs.

Wired agency, Bernama quoted Deputy Human Resources Minis-ter Senator Datuk Maznah Mazlan as saying that from the 69,760 job hunters who registered with the portal, 18 held doctorates, 1,165 had Masters degrees, 36,985 were Bachelor degree holders while 31,592 had diplomas.

As of last Friday, she added Universiti Teknologi Mara graduates topped the list from public universities with 12,768 applications.

This was followed by Universiti Utara Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia with 4,151 and 2,943 applicants respectively.

The report also noted that the majority majored in business administration, electric, electronics and telecommunications engineering, mechanical and mechatronics engineering, accounts and pure sciences.

193 Employers Fined For EPF Default

Blame it on the economy or poor neglicience? About one hundred and ninety-three employers were slapped with fines totaling RM278,970 by the courts for failing to remit the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contributions of their employees during the third-quarter of this year.

According to Bernama report, during the same period, 1,913 criminal cases were filed by the EPF against errant employers for defaulting on their employees' contributions.

The EPF had also submitted the names of 234 errant company directors to the immigration department to prevent them from leaving the country without first settling their arrears, said the fund's general manager of public relations Nik Affendi Jaafar, in a statement.

"The rate of defaulting employers during this quarter has registered a drop of 1.73 per cent as compared to 1.81 per cent in the previous quarter," he said.

The report also quoted him as saying that the drop showed that more employers were aware of their role in their employees' retirement well-being.

Malaysia Still In Short of Engineers

Few months back, reports of shortage of engineers surfaced. Well, it resurfaced again in form of an interview with Starbiz (The Stars Newspaper's business section).

The newpaper was quoting Penang Skills Development Centre (PSDC) chief executive officer Datuk Boonler Somchit who said that the country is not producing sufficient engineers to meet the needs of the technology sector, which will undermine the country’s competitive edge as a destination for foreign direct investments

He told StarBiz, citing data from the Education Ministry, that both public and private universities in the country produced over 13,700 first-degree graduates in engineering last year, which “is not adequate to meet the needs of the technology sector in the country.”

“Let us say if a multinational corporation (MNC) requires 50 engineers, 100 MNCs would need 5,000 engineers.

“The 13,700 fresh graduates that we produce is definitely not enough to go round to meet the needs of the MNCs and local technology companies,” he said.

Consumer Protection Act To Cover Electronic Transaction

The Consumer Protection Act 1999 will be amended to cover purchases made through electronic transaction, said Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

The proposed amendment entails the setting up of a committee to monitor advertisements in efforts to curtail misleading advertisements, he said when winding-up debated on the ministry's supply bill at the Dewan Rakyat.

Ismail Sabri said the draft of the bill was being scrutinised before it would be submitted to the Attorney General's Chambers for tabling in parliament in March next year.

EPF retirement Increases in third quarter

Despite caution about income indequacy post-retirement, the withdrawal have increased last quarter. According to Bernama report, some RM1.97bil was withdrawn under the Employees Provident Fund Retirement Withdrawals in the third quarter of 2009, an increase from the RM1.64bil in the corresponding period last year.

Some RM1.41bil of the RM1.97bil, was withdrawn as Lump Sum Age 55 Withdrawal, up 14.2% from that in Q3 2008, EPF said in a statement on its unaudited results on Wednesday.

EPF chief executive officer Tan Sri Azlan Zainol said the remaining RM557.05mil was withdrawn under the Flexible Age 55 Withdrawal, up 38.05% from the RM403.51mil last year.

“Nonetheless, 72% of retirement withdrawals still consist of lump sum withdrawals. We hope to see this amount decrease over time as more members become increasingly aware that lump sum withdrawal will likely lead to income inadequacy during retirement,” he said.

The report also quoted Azlan as saying members had exercised greater prudence and care in making withdrawals for housing as showed by a more cautious behaviour due to the present economic conditions.

Construction workers available

Need construction workers? No problem, there are more than 32,000 available for choosing. According to The Star newspaper a force of 12,000 foreign workers and over 10,000 locals registered with the Construction Labour Exchange Centre Bhd (CLAB) can be deployed to any contractor short of manpower.

CLAB chief executive Azlan Mohd Isa said there was no reason for contractors not to make use of them.

He said the 22,000 workers were involved in construction projects throughout the country but were available when their jobs were done.

“We encourage contractors to come to us because it is cheaper to source labour through us than through agents.

“If contractors’ needs do not match our local work pool, we will look to the foreign workforce to fulfil their needs. The aim is to reduce the intake of new foreign workers,” he said.

(Source: Jobsdb Malaysia)