Malaysia Offers 8,600 Jobs for Locals Who Can Pick Fruit for Palm Oil Giants

Anuradha Raghu

09 Mar 2021, 03:11 PM IST

(Bloomberg) -- Malaysia is taking the hunt for palm oil workers online as the world’s second-biggest producer struggles to ease an acute labor shortage that’s costing farmers billions of dollars in unharvested fruit.

The two-day virtual career carnival, organized by the plantations and human resources ministries together with the country’s social security organization, seeks to fill over 8,600 jobs offered by 26 employers in the farm sector. About 3,000 locals, including graduates and indigenous communities are expected to participate.

“The program is a good platform to help the industry quickly get workers and at the same time provide jobs to locals that were affected by the pandemic,” according to Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Khairuddin Aman Razali.

Labor shortage that’s plagued the Malaysian plantation industry for years worsened after the government shut borders and froze hiring foreign workers amid the pandemic. Despite offering higher wages and perks, efforts to recruit locals have had little success because working in the sector is viewed by them as dirty, dangerous, and demeaning. That’s keeping planters from maximizing harvest at a time when palm oil has rallied to a 10-year high.

“Planters can’t fully optimize production in the estates, given the severe lack of palm fruit harvesters, who are mostly foreign workers,” a group of 12 planters, refiners and palm-product manufactures said in a joint statement on Monday.

More on Malaysia’s labor problems:
Malaysian Palm Oil Producers Seek Strategy on Workers and Taxes Palm Output Hit by Double Whammy of Floods and Scarce Labor Prisoners Sought for Palm Oil Sector Amid Virus-Led Labor Crunch Malaysia Farms Face $3 Billion Hit From Palm Oil Worker Shortage ‘We’re Crying for Workers’: Labor Squeeze Hits Malaysia’s Gloves

The industry, comprising more than 75% foreign workers, was short by more than 40,000 harvesters before the pandemic. That translates to crop losses of about 20% and 11.83 billion ringgit ($2.9 billion) in lost revenue annually, according to the statement.

The pandemic has created job opportunities for locals, with more than 60,000 vacancies in the commodities sector, Khairuddin said. The first phase of the carnival, which offers job-seekers online interviews, will focus on palm, rubber, timber, cocoa and pepper, he said.