He said this when asked to comment on the issue of locals refusing to take up difficult, dirty, dangerous (3D) jobs due to the low salary.

“Even if we increase the salaries, some employees will not be happy with the ‘take-home pay’ after EPF (Employees Provident Fund) and Socso deductions.

“On the other hand, the salaries of locals are way higher and this is why companies prefer to hire foreigners as they do not need to pay EPF,” he said at a press conference today.

Furthermore, the increase in minimum wages in certain sectors to attract locals could not simply be done as it involved various parties.

“The minimum wage has already been set,” he said, adding that employers also had their views and not employees alone.

He added that it would be difficult to resolve the issue as the three main stakeholders, namely the government, employers and the public, had different views and all three could not come to an agreement.

Recently, the government had been criticised over its plans to bring in 1.5 million workers from Bangladesh over the next three years, citing the shortage of workers experienced by various sectors.