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.