In the first of a two-parter on Johor’s manpower challenges, CNA looks at how a weaker Malaysian currency has worsened its worker shortages, such as lacking 2,800 healthcare workers in public hospitals.
This has led to more pressure on some economic sectors in Johor which are already hit by attrition over the last three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“So it makes a compelling case for ordinary Malaysians to work in Singapore. In Malaysia, we will have to push wages up by attracting higher investment into technology, automation and digitalisation,” said Mr Liew, who is also Member of Parliament for the Iskandar Puteri constituency in Johor.In May 2022, the Johor government announced that it would set up a special task force to tackle employment issues as well as the “brain drain phenomenon” to Singapore.
“We are working with the health ministry … and we have to train more nurses locally. Hopefully within one to two years, we will be able to increase the quantity of younger nurses in our hospitals across the state,” he added. “Because of the currency, many of the staff have run to Singapore and it's difficult to entice them to come back,” said Mr Ang.“The exchange rate these days is around 3.4, so that means if they earn around S$2,000 in Singapore, this is already close to RM7,000, and many restaurants in Johor cannot afford to pay their cooks half this amount,” he added.
An executive chef, who worked at a JB restaurant prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and wanted to be known only as Mr Lim, is one example of a Johorean who found work in Singapore recently. Mr Lim rents a room in a HDB flat in Bukit Merah as it would be convenient to travel to work. He returns home to see his parents in Johor Bahru once a month.
Malaysia currently implements the minimum wage model. In May, the country’s minimum wage was raised from RM1,200 to RM1,500. Agreeing, Mr Ang said that one solution to retain talent in Johor is for local companies to offer higher wages.
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