Fixing Malaysia's workforce disconnect

AWANI

Nearly 39,000 Malaysians lost their jobs in the first 5 months of 2026, while the country's unemployment rate recently climbed to a six-month high. Yet despite rising retrenchments, many employers continue reporting difficulties finding candidates with the skills, experience, and capabilities required for today's workforce. According to Tejvinder Singh, CEO and Founder for Great Pyramid and a workforce mobility and talent solutions specialist with more than 15 years of experience advising employers, this points to a deeper challenge facing Malaysia's labour market.

Transcript

00:08Despite a resilient economy, Malaysia's labour market continues to face a growing paradox.

00:14As money companies say they are struggling to hire, yet thousands are being retrenched.

00:19So where is this disconnect? Is it issue of employment, skill mismatch or even the expectation of employers have changed?

00:27And to discuss this, we are joined with us in the studio is Tej Vinder Singh, Chief Executive Officer of

00:33GreatPermit.

00:34Thank you very much, Tej, for joining me. How are you?

00:36I'm great, thank you. Thank you for having me.

00:39No worries. Definitely, we are going to discuss a bit of very important topics and we would like to get

00:43more insights from you.

00:45And maybe you can share with us to our guests out there who maybe are not very familiar with the

00:50GreatPermit.

00:51Can you tell us what does GreatPermit do and what kind of businesses do you work with?

00:58GreatPermit is a Malaysian HR solutions company. We provide HR services such as recruitment, immigration and mobility, workforce management and

01:07HR advisory services.

01:09Our clients primarily are businesses. We range from SMEs all the way to multinational companies. So our role, what we

01:18play, what we do is to help businesses navigate workforce management complexities so that they can focus on growing.

01:27And you have spent more than 15 years advising employers on recruitment, workforce planning and talent mobility. From your experience,

01:37how is the Malaysia's workforce has transformed over a period of time?

01:41I think personally, the dynamics of workforce and employment has changed a lot in the last five years especially. If

01:51you're looking at the type of jobs available right now today, compared to what were available five years ago, it's

01:59totally different, right?

02:00And I think one of the main reasons would be technology, implementation of AI. So what employers want these days

02:07are not the same ordinary jobs that you have five years ago.

02:11And that is where coming back to your headliner earlier regarding the mismatch, right? So I think that's one of

02:18the core reasons that is a mismatch in terms of skills right now in industry.

02:24And as someone who works directly with employers every day, what are the biggest challenges, workforce challenges that they are

02:32facing today?

02:34I guess it's always a problem when employers tell you that we can't find the right talent. But then you've

02:40got news coming out there about 39,000 unemployed Malaysians, right?

02:46And 39,000 people have lost their jobs recently, right? So what they are looking for is certain skills, right?

02:54What they need is adaptability.

02:56They need employees to have the digital savviness. That's very important, right? And of course, now with AI, employers want

03:06employees that are able to do multiple roles rather than focus on a single type of skill set.

03:13So that's what we see employers are looking for in the workforce.

03:17Something that are needed within the industry and industry keep changing over time. As you mentioned, within the five years,

03:23we can see a very big change.

03:26And Malaysia has seen close to 39,000 job losses in the first five months of the year. Yet many

03:33employers say that they still cannot find a suitable talent. How can this both situation exist at the same time?

03:40I guess firstly, let's come back to the different type of jobs available, right? So with technology, there's so many

03:46different kind of roles that are coming into the market. But then again, the employees or graduates are not prepared

03:53for these roles. In my opinion, I think educators have to play a big part in this as well. We

03:59have to ask the universities, are they churning out graduates that are having a disconnect with employers?

04:08Are their skills readily available to be employed in the current market trends? Are we still following and going through

04:15a three-year or a four-year course whereby we are doing the same modules as they were doing 10

04:21years ago, right? This has to change. So I think educators have to play a part. That's number one.

04:27Number two, in terms of policymakers, they have to invest in upskilling measures and with the current employees not having

04:36jobs or being retrained. So upskilling is very important. And yet again, I think employers have to play a part

04:43in this role as well.

04:44They have to ensure they invest in their current employees to ensure they are upskilled and be able to take

04:50on those new roles available. So I always believe it's better to, you know, retain talent than go ahead and

04:57find new talent.

04:58From your perspective, is Malaysia labour's market facing a demand problem, a supply problem or even fundamentally a skill matching

05:06problem?

05:06I think it's a skill matching problem, to be very honest. Demand is there. We are in the recruitment industry.

05:13We are in the workforce management industry. Right now, there's no shortage of roles. But I think it's a skill

05:20mismatch problem. That's what we're looking at, right?

05:23And employees need to take responsibility in, I would say, upgrading their skills as well, right? What employers are looking

05:32for nowadays are completely different. Digital capabilities, you know, you must learn, you must know how to use your AI

05:40very well, right? And you must be able to multitask. You're not going to be focusing on one single job

05:46anymore.

05:47Yeah, that is very important. Multitask. Not only a single job. Most of them say that we need to upskilling,

05:54reskilling, but also now cross-skilling of every skill that we have right now or developing with the use of

06:00AI technology that expanding more fast and complex.

06:04And should we view the recent wave of retrenchments as a temporary response from the economic conditions or as evidence

06:11that parts of Malaysia's workforce are becoming increasingly disconnected from evolving industry demands?

06:17I think it's a temporary matter right now. The government is investing a lot into upskilling and reskilling employees. And

06:29this may take some time, right? But employability will increase. And I believe that demand will increase as well with

06:36the current number of foreign investments coming into the country.

06:39So this would be a temporary thing. But I really hope that it remains that way. But I think all

06:45parties have to pay a part in making this work and making it remain a temporary matter.

06:51And let's break it down to specific industry or sectors. From what you're seeing, which industry are experiencing the greatest

06:59disconnect which are available between the workers and even available jobs? And what is driving this gap?

07:05I think you're looking at industries like manufacturing, technology, you know, specialized professional services and engineering. These are the four

07:14areas that we see are having the biggest mismatch or having the hardest time hiring the correct talent they want.

07:21And like I said, these are the industries that are moving and being technologically advanced fast, right? And that's causing

07:30the mismatch because they are coming up with new roles, new job descriptions that were not available five years ago,

07:38right?

07:38And graduates and graduates and employees need to adapt to these new roles. So that's where we are looking at.

07:44These four areas are having, I would say, a tough time hiring right now.

07:50And if employees are able to re-skill and up-skill themselves to be able to adapt to these changes,

07:56I think it will be very good for the industry.

07:58So what role should employers play in closing the gap? Is it hiring more people with the new job roles

08:05that can fit new job description or do business need to invest more to up-skilling them?

08:10I think up-skilling would be one of the areas they should look at. Secondly, it's knowledge transfer. That's very

08:16important.

08:16You know, knowledge transfer, whereby if the talent is not available locally, maybe they can look at hiring foreign talent

08:24for a specific short-term period of time and transferring that knowledge to the local talent, right?

08:30But there must be a proper succession plan in that. Only then it will work.

08:34And looking ahead, what needs to happen for Malaysia to be a better ecosystem or better workforce that is better

08:41prepared for the future economy?

08:43I think three parties need to play a big role in this. Educators, employers and policy makers, right?

08:53Not one person can make a difference, right? Educators, they need to be able to churn out better, more quality,

09:00better skilled graduates.

09:02The employers need to ensure they invest in mentorships, training, up-skilling, re-skilling programs for their current employees.

09:12And policy makers need to ensure that they are making and investing in certain policies that, you know, make our

09:22employees future-ready.

09:24Let's put it that way, right? The term we use is future-ready for all the employees.

09:29Then some Malaysians argue that employees are too quick to say or judge there is talent shortage instead of investing

09:37to local workers.

09:38Is business partly responsible for this?

09:41I think businesses have their own way to look at it as well, right?

09:47With rising cost pressures, with current economic situations, they may not want to invest right away into all this up

09:57-skilling or training matters for talents, right?

10:01So, I guess it's a cost pressure that has made them look at it at this point of view.

10:08Main reason is the cost.

10:10Yes, I guess the main reason is the cost, to be honest.

10:13So, if companies continue to hiring expatriates while local unemployment remains elevated,

10:20how do you convince Malaysians that foreign workers are not taking away opportunities from the locals, especially?

10:25I think we have to understand why expatriates are hired firstly.

10:29Expatriates are usually hired in specialized skills and leadership roles, right?

10:34Their role is more in terms of setting up businesses or providing work that is not available locally.

10:43We have to look at it that way.

10:44But at the end of the day, employees must take responsibility to ensure that knowledge is transferred to the local

10:52talent, right?

10:52Because the expatriates come in, most of them come in for a short period of time.

10:57They are not here beyond two to four years most of the time, right?

11:00And there must be a proper succession plan.

11:02So, this is where I guess employers need to take that responsibility and ensure that succession plan is in place

11:09when they hire the expatriates

11:11and the knowledge transfer to the local talent is done.

11:15That's another aspect that we need to take a look on also.

11:18So, some people believe that graduates have unrealistic salary expectations, while others say employers offer them a very low salary

11:25base,

11:26that which we can say that no longer match the cost of living.

11:31But which side do you think is right?

11:33I think both sides of the coin are correct.

11:38As I mentioned earlier, employers have rising cost pressures due to current economic situations.

11:44And employees have rising cost of living, right?

11:49And therefore, what you earned five years ago may not be the same as what you need to earn today.

11:57And we have to find middle ground on this matter.

12:02And employees and employees both have to find a realistic way of, let's say, shaking hands and ensuring that they

12:10are paid equally and fairly.

12:14And also, other than salaries, definitely comes, we've been discussing about the skills.

12:20But beyond technical skills, what soft skills that employees consistently say are missing among today's job seekers?

12:28I guess communication, that is very important.

12:32Today's job seekers need to be well polished in their communication skills.

12:39Adaptability is very important with current changes in technology and current workforce trends they need to adapt.

12:49And resilience.

12:49This is something that what we see from the current generation of employees that needs to be there.

12:59So resilience is something that employers are really looking into as well.

13:02So I would say these three areas need to be an area that employers need to look into.

13:07And looking at our official labour market data also, do you think that Malaysia is measuring labour market success using

13:14the right indicators?

13:15Or should we move beyond unemployment rates and pay greater attention to salary, job quality, productivity and even workforce participation?

13:24I agree with that, definitely.

13:26I think the data may be slightly skewed.

13:29We always look at unemployment.

13:32There's another term that we use, which is underemployment.

13:35So that data is kind of not measured, let's put it that way, right?

13:40Underemployment means if you have a bachelor's degree, are you in a role that requires a bachelor's degree?

13:48Or are you doing e-hailing, for instance?

13:52E-hailing is still an employment, but that is underemployment, right?

13:55So that's also an area that data needs to be produced and we need to ensure that the measures are

14:06taken to ensure that underemployment is also realised.

14:10And we need to do something about that because in the long run, that may be an area that will

14:16cause more workforce problems in the market.

14:18And also looking forward, in the next five years, if nothing changes and the ways persons recruit, schools educate and

14:27workers reskill, what will Malaysia's labor market look like within five years from now?

14:35If you're looking at the current trends and if nothing changes, is that a question?

14:39Correct.

14:40If nothing changes, I think it's a bit of a doom and gloom if you ask me, to be honest.

14:45We are in a position that everybody needs to play a part.

14:49We cannot keep going on the same trend that we are going.

14:54Upskilling, reskilling, new kind of skills need to be implemented and employees need to adapt to current market changes.

15:02Because with globalization, to be very honest, industries, businesses have all over the world to go for this, right?

15:10And we need to be competitive, let's put it that way.

15:14Employees need to be competitive and employees need to pay competitive salaries as well.

15:18This is very important if nothing changes from five years from now on because this is the impact that we're

15:24going to be living in and many of employers are facing.

15:27But what are some of the things before we wrap up our conversation that we can learn from other countries,

15:32more developed countries that managed to build a very good workforce ecosystems?

15:38What are some of the things that we can learn from planning, execution and building talent for the future?

15:44My focus would be working together, educators, employers and policymakers need to work together to ensure that the talent is

15:55future ready, right?

15:56And we need to churn out more quality graduates.

16:00And I already see that happening.

16:02So universities are implementing a lot of AI and digital courses into their current degrees and diplomas, which is a

16:10very positive thing to see.

16:12Employees are investing in mentoring, training and upskilling.

16:17And the policymakers are doing a good job as well in terms of coming up with policies or ensuring that

16:23they support upskilling and reskilling of employees in Malaysia.

16:27So I have hope, to be very honest, and I hope the talent in Malaysia also have hope with the

16:34country.

16:35So we are on a good track and hopefully five years from now, everything will be much better.

16:40Ultimately, investing in our talent is also investing in Malaysia's future.

16:45In closing the gap will be very critical growth for the country's long-term growth and competitiveness.

16:50Thank you very much, Tej Vindasing, the Chief Executive Officer of Great Permit for sharing your insight with us today.

16:57And definitely for all of this, discussion will be featured in astroowni.com and across all social media platforms.

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