PUTRAJAYA, MALAYSIA - The Human Resources Ministry has set up a committee to monitor the labour market situation in the country.

The committee, headed by the ministry's secretary-general, Datuk Thomas George, will take the necessary steps if there were workers who lost their jobs due to the global economic situation, Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said in a statement released here.

He said the Labour Department would assist all Malay-sian workers in Singapore who had lost their jobs there.

"There are some 300,000 Malaysians working in the republic and the Labour Department is monitoring the situation there.

"They can contact the Labour Department in Johor Baru to get help in getting jobs in the state."
Subramaniam also said the the Labour Department had set up a registry at its office in Johor Baru to meet the needs of job seekers in the state.

"Currently, there are 2,000 vacancies in Johor. Employers are encouraged to register any vacancies in their companies with the Labour Department."

In Johor Baru, Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman, commenting on the fate of Malaysians working across the Causeway, said: "Whenever there is a recession, it is always the foreign workers who first suffer the consequences, one of which can be retrenchment.

"Having said that, it is up to them whether they want to remain working in Singapore or register themselves with an employment agency in Johor.

"Most of them, I believe, reside in Johor but commute daily to Singapore."

Ghani pointed out there were still many job opportunities in Johor, particularly in the manufacturing, and oil and gas industries.