The survey by Ipsos, titled “What Worries Malaysia”, showed that governance and unemployment followed close behind.
Ipsos Loyalty and Public Affairs director Arun Menon said immigration control, specifically the immigration of foreign workers, had households with incomes of below RM3,000 the most worried.
Malays and those living in rural areas were two other groups who were the most concerned over the influx of foreign workers, he added.
“As for concerns over unemployment and jobs, this was mostly felt by Malays, those who are single, females as well as students.
“Those with a household income of less than RM1,000 and generation Z (those aged between 15 and 24) also reported a high level of worry,” he said at a press conference announcing the findings of Ipsos’ inaugural Malaysian study today.
Governance was slightly more of a concern among middle-class Chinese, which was in line with studies in other publications.
The survey was carried out among 2,027 Malaysians, aged between 15 and 64.
It was conducted in tandem with the 26-country global study, asking citizens on key issues they believe are facing their country.
Ipsos business consulting (Malaysia, Singapore and Philippines) country head Kiranjit Singh said he was surprised to see immigration control as the top concern.
He noted however that research had found such worry had nothing to do with racism or xenophobia, but rather economics.
“If you look at the people who are mostly concerned about the uncontrolled entry of foreign workers, the same people who worry about unemployment are also to a certain extent worried about the influx of foreign workers.
“I believe it is more of an economic issue, rather than a racial issue or a dislike for foreign workers,” he said.
As for unemployment, Kiranjit said the biggest concern was among those who were entering the workforce.
He also pointed to the issue of graduate unemployability.
The current unemployment rate, Kiranjit said, stood at 3.5%, which represents between 500,000 and 550,000 who are unemployed.
“While there are still jobs, the jobs created do not fulfil the aspirations of those going into the workforce.
“Every generation wants their children to do better than them, but if the jobs created can be done by skilled foreign workers, this is not meeting aspirations and qualifications of Malaysians. This is where the gap is.”
Kiranjit said the country still needed foreign workers as many industries relied on them.
He said the benchmark within Malaysia was that foreign workers could not exceed 15% of the total workforce.
“Malaysia is at about 14%. It is a positively declining trend. The figures used to be around two million, then 1.8 million, and now it is at 1.7 million.
“But if you see the distribution of foreign workers, they are not equally distributed across states. In many states, the 15% benchmark has been breached,” he added.
When asked in which states the benchmark had been breached, Kiranjit said these were the most industrialised, with more manufacturing and services sectors.
“We need them (foreign workers). They have in some ways contributed to the growth of the economy,” he said.
In the survey, Malaysia ranked 10th among the 26 countries when it came to concern over immigration control.
When asked why the issue was a top concern in Malaysia, Arun said this was the global average as some countries viewed immigration control as a concern, and others did not.
He said countries such as Australia, the UK, the US and most European nations viewed immigration control as a concern, while other countries like India, China and Saudi Arabia did not.