Malaysia resources

April 2016

  1. TRIANGLE II Quarterly Briefing Note: Malaysia (January - March 2016)

    Although population growth has remained relatively high in Malaysia, its rapidly expanding economy, increasing urbanization and relatively low-level of labour force participation among women continue to create a major demand for migrant workers. Most estimates suggest that there are 3–4 million migrants currently employed in Malaysia, which would constitute approximately 20–30 per cent of the country’s workforce.

  2. Regional Skills Technical Working Group (RSTWG) Meeting

    3 - 4 May 2016

    The ILO Regional Skills Programme is organising the Regional Skills Technical Working Group (RSTWG) meeting on 3-4 May 2016 in Bangkok. The meeting will bring together Regional Skills Technical Working Group members who are the Skills Focal Points designated by the ASEAN Member States (AMS). It will discuss the progress and implementation of Action Plans on the mutual recognition of skills (MRS), share knowledge and updates on the skills programme and labour migration in the ASEAN countries; and plan strategically on the way forward.

  3. ASEAN Regional Employers' Workshop: Managing Labour Mobility for Inclusion, Innovation, and Business Competitiveness

    9 - 10 May 2016

    Under the ASEAN Triangle Project funded by the Government of Canada, ILO has been engaging employers' organizations in labour migration processes in ASEAN. This is the last of the five series of regional workshops planned on labour mobility , focusing on managing diversity and inclusion at workplace.

March 2016

  1. Video link: The ASEAN TRIANGLE Project: Making a Difference for Migrant Workers

    The ASEAN TRIANGLE project, with support of the Government of Canada, has made a significant and tangible impact on the governance of labour migration in the region and advanced the ASEAN regional integration agenda. The ultimate beneficiaries, the migrant workers themselves, make an enormous development contribution to the region. All stakeholders will benefit from protecting and promoting their rights. This video documents the key achievements of the ASEAN TRIANGLE Project from 2012-16. The ASEAN TRIANGLE Project (ATP) aims to significantly reduce the exploitation of labour migrants in the region through increased legal and safe migration and improved labour protection. The project promotes both bilateral and regional approaches to deal with shared concerns, make regionalism more effective, and enhance the capacity of institutions in ASEAN.

  2. Managing labour mobility: Opportunities and challenges for employers in the ASEAN region

    This publication series documents and consolidates the outputs of the regional meetings to better inform employers’ activities, and summarizes the position of employers’ on the priority issues on labour migration in the ASEAN region. It gives the context of these priority areas as well as the policy position papers agreed upon as a result of the regional workshops.

  3. Guide on measuring migration policy impacts in ASEAN

    This Guide offers policy-makers and administrators a guide for evaluating how labour migration policies work in practice, based on documented experiences in ASEAN and other parts of the world. It starts with assessing the outcomes of labour market tests used to determine whether the migrant workers requested by employers are really needed.

  4. Training of trainers: Financial education course for ASEAN migrants in Thailand

    25 April - 15 May 2016

    The ASEAN TRIANGLE Project recognizes that providing financial education for ASEAN migrants and assisting them in addressing family and cultural issues are valuable interventions that could enable them to achieve their goals for migration, and empower them through better-informed planning and decision making.

  5. Review of the government-to-government mechanism for the employment of Bangladeshi workers in the Malaysian plantation sector

    Migrant workers form a key element in labour markets throughout the Asia-Pacific region. In Bangladesh, like many other countries of origin, labour migration is a source of employment, and workers’ remittances are critical to poverty alleviation and for offsetting the foreign trade deficit. Malaysia is a major country of destination, where migrants make up approximately a quarter of the workforce. Migrant workers’ contributions are critical in several key economic sectors, including the multi-billion dollar palm oil industry.

  6. First Joint Dialogue of the ASEAN Confederation of Employers and the ASEAN Trade Union Council

    8 - 9 March 2016

    Both ACE and ATUC have acknowledged the value of holding this joint meeting between ATUC and ACE to address emerging issues, build trust and put forward common positions to the ASEAN Committee on the Implementation of the Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers (ACMW) and Senior Labour Officials Meeting (SLOM).

February 2016

  1. GMS TRIANGLE Project Update: October 2015

    The Tripartite Action to Protect the Rights of Migrants Workers within and from the Greater Mekong Sub-region (the GMS TRIANGLE project) aims to strengthen the formulation and implementation of recruitment and labour protection policies and practices, to ensure safer migration resulting in decent work. The project is operational in six countries: Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam. In each country, tripartite constituents (government, workers’ and employers’ organizations) are engaged in each of the GMS TRIANGLE project objectives - strengthening policy and legislation, building capacity of stakeholders and providing services to migrant workers. These goals are interdependent, with policy advocacy and capacity building activities driven by the voices, needs and experiences of workers, employers and service providers.