Malaysia's unemployment aggravated by September attacks on U.S.<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur<\/p>\n
The worsening world economy and the Sept. 11 terror attacks on
\nthe U.S. have caused tens of thousands of workers to lose their
\njobs in Malaysia, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
\nsaid Saturday.<\/p>\n
Abdullah in an interview with Bernama news agency said 34,502
\nworkers have lost their jobs in the year to Nov. 17.<\/p>\n
Of these 29,900 workers, or 86.7 percent, were Malaysians
\nwhile the rest were foreigners, he said. Last year's unemployment
\ndata were not available.<\/p>\n
\"We hope employers will retrench foreign workers first. But if
\nwe study the matter, we see other aspects. Maybe Malaysians do
\nnot want to take up the jobs left by foreign workers,\" Abdullah
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Foreign workers are mainly found in the services and
\nplantation sectors, whose poor wages and tough working conditions
\nare often shunned by Malaysians.<\/p>\n
Abdullah said the job losses could be explained by a fall in
\ndemand for products, which had led to the shutting-down or
\nrelocation of factories.<\/p>\n
Labor Department statistics obtained by Bernama show three-
\nquarters of the jobs were lost in manufacturing with trade and
\nfinance showing the next biggest losses.<\/p>\n
Most of the losses were in Penang, Johor and Selangor, where
\nMalaysia's export-dependent information technology industries are
\nbased, Bernama said.<\/p>\n
The central bank last week announced an economic contraction
\nof 1.3 percent in the third quarter, the first year-on-year drop
\nsince the first quarter of 1999, amid sharp falls in
\nmanufacturing output.<\/p>\n
Malaysia last plunged into recession in 1998 amid the Asian
\nfinancial crisis, but it rebounded the following year and
\nrecorded a heady 8.5 percent growth last year.<\/p>\n
The government has cut its growth forecast for this year for a
\nsecond time to between 1.0 to 2.0 percent, and has imposed a
\nrange of fiscal measures to boost consumer spending.<\/p>",
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