KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 30 — Datuk Ahmad Maslan accused “lazy Malaysians” today of adding to the country’s unemployment rate by refusing to take up job opportunities.
The Deputy Finance Minister also blamed the unemployed for the influx of foreign migrant workers plying their trade in several industries in the country.
“The 3 per cent are the lazy ones, ladies and gentlemen … They are worse than just lazy. There are around 300,000 of them, who are just sitting and doing nothing,” said Ahmad Maslan, referring to the jobless.
“The nation is filled with foreign migrants, but they continue to be unemployed,” he added.
According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia, the unemployment rate is at 3.4 per cent as at November last year, or 484,600 of the 14.2 million of the country’s total labour force.
In Malaysia, an unemployment rate below 4 per cent is considered as full employment.
Malaysia’s unemployment rate has remained below the 4 per cent threshold since 1992, but since then, the rate has been steadily on the climb.
It hit reached its last lowest point of 2.8 per cent in June 2013..
According to a statement by Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar in October last year, there are 2.1 million registered foreign workers in Malaysia.
Deputy Human Resource Minister Datuk Ismail Abd Muttalib was reported by English-language daily the New Straits Times in July last year as saying that there are 1.3 million illegal immigrants in the country.
