Malaysia expects 45,000 job losses

Malaysia expects 45,000 job losses

Associated Press, Kuala Lumpur

The government expects 45,000 Malaysian workers to be
retrenched this year, but 110,000 new jobs were reportedly
available to prevent growing unemployment, a Cabinet minister
said Monday.

Human Resources Minister Fong Chan Onn told Parliament that
although the retrenchment figures were high, his ministry had
received many reports of vacancies for new jobs, the national
news agency, Bernama, reported.

Fong said 31,302 Malaysians were reported to have lost their
jobs in the first 10 months of 2001. He said, however, that there
were about 107,000 job vacancies reported so far this year.

The minister didn't give a breakdown for various job sectors.
But the government has said the manufacturing sector - which
employs about 2.5 million people - has been the hardest hit due
to the global economic slowdown and drying up of U.S. demand for
electronic exports.

There are more than 9 million workers in Malaysia, a Southeast
Asian nation of 23 million people. Once largely dependent on
rubber and tin, the country's largest export is currently
electronic products and components.