In its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016, which was released last Friday, the US State Department said sources had reported incidents of forced labour, or conditions indicative of forced labour, in areas such as plantation agriculture, the fishing industry, electronics factories, restaurants and construction.
It said employers, agents or recruiters subjected some migrants to forced labour or debt bondage, usually by imposing high fees.
Meanwhile, companies hiring foreign workers often did so through third parties human resource (HR) agencies instead of directly. This created uncertainty regarding the legal relationship between worker and employer, it said, and made workers more vulnerable to exploitation.
The report also noted passport confiscation by employers and HR agencies of migrant workers, which it said was widespread and generally went unpunished.
Migrant workers without access to their passports were at the mercy of harsh working conditions, lower wages than promised, unexpected wage deductions and poor housing, it said.
It also cited NGO reports of agents drafting contracts that included a provision for employees to sign over the right to hold their passports to the employer or agent.
The report added that child labour occurred in some family businesses such as food stalls, cafes and night markets, as well as in small-scale industries.
Child labour was also evident among migrant domestic workers, it said. However, it added that no comprehensive data was available on the subject.
The report also noted NGO reports on stateless children in Sabah who were especially vulnerable to labour exploitation in palm oil production, forced begging and work in service industries, such as restaurants.