- MEF supports improved vacancy reporting under Section 45F of the EIS Act, saying better labour-market data will help Malaysia strengthen education, TVET and upskilling investments.
- The federation urges practical implementation, warning that rigid reporting rules and administrative burdens could strain MSMEs lacking dedicated HR resources.
- MEF rejects the proposed RM10,000 blanket penalty, calling it disproportionate and harmful to business viability, stressing the need for calibrated, flexible regulations.
MEF welcomes the government's effort to enhance vacancy reporting under Section 45F of the Employment Insurance System Act, adding that it is in line with international best practices and can serve long-term labour-market development for Malaysia. According to MEF, improved vacancy information would go beyond merely highlighting hiring patterns and skills and sector-specific labour demands to also help the government commit more targeted investments in education, TVET, and upskilling programs.
Better insight would thus be gained by policymakers in designing interventions that would ensure a competency pipeline for the labour market is gradually built up, mismatch in jobs reduced, and national productivity enhanced-outcomes that would best serve the employers' long-term business interests and improve Malaysia's competitiveness.
While MEF applauded the good intention of the policy, it warned that its implementation has to be practical and proportionate, particularly for micro, small and medium-scale enterprises, which often operate without independent human resources departments. The organization emphasized that new reporting obligations must not become an added administrative burden for smaller businesses already stretched by soaring costs and resource constraints.
It underlined that the EIS Act confers upon the minister the discretion to adapt regulations and even to exempt certain categories of employers and implored the government to use this flexibility to ensure that compliance measures are matched against company size and operational capacity and not across-the-board for all sectors.
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MEF president Datuk Syed Hussain Syed Husman also attacked the blanket proposed penalty of RM10,000 for administrative non-compliance as disproportionate and divorced from the operational realities employers face. Businesses are often faced with fluid staffing requirements, restructuring exercises, and operational pressures that demand urgent attention; under these conditions, a rigid reporting requirement within seven days could not and would not work in most circumstances.
The imposition of such an exorbitant fine, he argued, overlooks and ignores such operational complexities faced by companies and may end up fining those that are not wilfully trying to avoid compliance but are actually operating within dynamic and fast-moving work environments. Syed Hussain also warned that cumulative penalties would not take long to climb when companies experience several vacancies over a longer period, compounding financial exposure and causing unnecessary strain on organisations already juggling economic uncertainty. Under these conditions, he said, repeated fines may seriously dent business viability and weaken the very stability of the labour market that the policy is supposed to improve.
While MEF reiterates its support for the government’s broader objectives, it emphasized that successful implementation hinges on careful calibration of the rules. It is a balanced approach that strengthens labor-market data without overwhelming employers to make sure that the policy achieves what is due from it.
