PENDANG, May 19 (Bernama) — The Human Resources Ministry will take drastic measures to resolve the worker shortage in the tourism and hospitality sector in Langkawi by initiating interview programmes at a higher frequency throughout the country, including Sabah and Sarawak.

Its deputy minister, Datuk Awang Hashim said the interviews were held through his special committee together with industry players since early this month.

“We are now aggressively conducting interviews in Sabah and Sarawak to fill the vacancies in the tourism sector so that we do not have to rely on foreign workers and to ensure that agencies under the ministry like the Labour Department and the Social Security Organisation (SOCSO) need to hold such interviews more frequently and quickly to hire more young people from Sabah and Sarawak.

“With the implementation of the RM1,500 minimum monthly wage, we are convinced that employers do not have trouble paying such salaries or even more after tourism in Langkawi recovers,” he said at the Pendang parliamentary constituency and Tokai state constituency Aidilfitri Open House here today.

Awang said the ministry would also continue to focus on tourism and hospitality sector skill training preparation to create a bigger workforce of the field.

“Currently there is no need for foreigners to fill the tourism and hospitality industry as there is only one foreigner working in two five-star hotels while the other 99 per cent are all locals.

“There is no issue about locals not wanting to work in the sector. I hope locals will take this opportunity because this isn’t a 3D (dirty, dangerous and difficult) job, so it suits the demands of our society,” he said.

Awang said based on monitoring by the Labour Department, 17,000 workers are needed in the tourism and hotelling in Langkawi after the sector was reopened through a tourism bubble, with more than 2,000 active employers requiring workers in the sector in Langkawi.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency