Penang's Talent Shortage: A Call To Action For Sustained Growth

By Farhana Poniman

GEORGE TOWN, March 30 (Bernama) -- A concerted effort from all stakeholders is required to solve Penang's shortage of skilled talent, resulting from increased labour demand as well as solid investment activities by new and existing multinational corporations (MNCs).

InvestPenang chief executive officer Datuk Loo Lee Lian said it was imperative to raise awareness of the problem to be able to act timely and decisively for Malaysia to better compete with other countries and ensure the economy remains strong and competitive in the long term.

"Under the 2024 Budget, the government offered RM30 million as an incentive to the industry to train the local workforce for key sectors such as aerospace, medical devices, and digital.

"This shows that the government recognises the importance of local talent in these sectors contributing to the development of the country," she told Bernama.

However, she said the effectiveness could only be proven when the vacancies are being filled up in Penang whereby as of March 19, 2024, there are over 1,054 engineering vacancies and a total of 4,741 vacancies in the state, according to JobStreet.

Besides talent shortage, she said the industrial sector in Penang is also facing a skills mismatch in that the talent produced by higher institutions was not equipped with the skills that are needed by the industry.

"Various efforts are in place to attract and retain talent in Penang, as well as upskill them to meet the demands of the industry such as cultivating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) interest among school children to increase the funnel of STEM talent in the state through various state initiatives like Penang Science Cluster, Penang Digital Library, Tech Dome Penang, among others.

"Overall, the education system needs to be more demand-driven, especially in strengthening cooperation with industries and employers, particularly in the implementation of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), as practised in institutions like the Penang Skills Development Centre (PSDC) to see positive results," she said.

She pointed out that in the past three years (2021-2023), Penang continues to capture 39 per cent of the total FDI into Malaysia and contributes to 29 per cent of total national exports and 52 per cent of Malaysia’s total trade surplus, hence, the demand for improved infrastructure has also increased.

Going forward, Loo said for Penang to remain a haven for foreign direct investment (FDI), the federal government should allocate more budget to the state in the 2025 Budget, specifically to address increased road infrastructure demands given that traffic congestion is affecting workers' productivity levels.

She added that while the proposed Light Rail Transit (LRT) is a mid-term mass transportation solution, shorter-term solutions are needed to address road congestion and improve traffic flows.

Other than that, Loo said the looming water issue is also concerning, given that Penang has been facing multiple water disruptions within the past three months.

"During his recent visit to the state, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the federal government was well aware of Penang's water problems and he promised to speed up the Perak-Penang water deal.

"We hope to see more funding coming from the federal to aid water productivity within the state and reduce dependence on minimal sources (Sungai Muda) by diversifying water resources," she added.

-- BERNAMA