HR Asia — January 2018

M A L A Y S I A

MALAYSIAN WORKERS WORKING MORE,
GETTING LESS

According to the Malaysian National Bank report in 2014,
approximately 78 per cent of Malaysian households were living
below the decent living standard. Current Malaysia’s minimum
wage entitled workers to be paid RM5 per hour, making it tenfold
lower than the minimum wage for Australians workers. While
Australia’s higher currency may be one of the reasons behind
such discrepancy, Numbeo listings reveals that the living cost in
Malaysia is seven times greater than of the Australians’, meaning
that Malaysians are paying more for less income.

J A P A N

KOBE STEEL WORKER MISCONDUCT
AFFECTS BIGGER INDUSTRY

After a series of thorough investigations, it was revealed that staff
of Kobe Steel Ltd have been falsifying the company’s product
quality data for more than a decade. According to the Kobe’s
chief executive Hiroya Kawasaki, approximately 500 companies
had received its falsely certifi ed products. This scandal hits
the automotive industry the most as many of the Japan vehicle
manufacturers tend to use “Made in Japan” products for the
cheaper price and good quality. Among the affected giant
carmakers who have been using Kobe’s products are Nissan,
Toyata, Honda, Mitsubishi, Subaru and Ma]da.

JAPAN TO REDUCE DEATH RATE FROM

OVERWORKING IN 10 YEARS

Last year, the government released a paper claiming that 20

per cent of the country’s workforce was at the risk of karoshi or

“overwork death”, as they admit to working for more than 80 hours

each month. In fact, the number of karoshi is higher than the annual

number of deaths from accident in Japan. This has lead the ³land of

the rising sun” to come up with a national guideline that targets to

cut the number of suicides to 16,000 or less by 202. The guideline

aims to address issues such as the exorbitant numbers of working

hours, postpartum depression and measures against suicide which

includes seeking for professional medical advice.

C H I N A

CHINA’S RISING LABOUR MARKET INVITE

DUAL VIEWS ON CURRENT ECONOMY

Asia Pacifi c Employment Monitor reports that for the second

quarter of 2017, China is showing a steady increase of 7 per cent

in employment opportunities with 16 per cent decline in number

of candidates. Nevertheless, the COO of Morgan McKinley

argues that this can be attributed to economic uncertainties. Job

seekers are scared to enter such volatile labour market, hence

less people applying for new jobs despite the availability of

positions. CIER Employment Inde[ Report 201 also agrees that

there has been an augmentation of labour demands and lesser

percentage of job seekers, but it noted that this trend occurs due

to an increase of *'P. The economic improvement, especially in

internet or e-commerce provides more vacancies to those who

are looking for a job.

A R O U N D T H E R E G I O N