Latest news with #skilledWorkers
Free Malaysia Today
19-06-2025
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
Average salary in Malaysia stood at RM3,332 in 2022
Across the economy, skilled workers received the highest average monthly salary at RM6,967 in 2022, while semi-skilled and low-skilled workers received RM2,548 and RM1,798 respectively. PETALING JAYA : The average monthly salary and wages of employees in Malaysia stood at RM3,332 in 2022, reflecting an annual growth rate of 3.7% compared to RM2,590 in 2015. Data released by the statistics department today also revealed that mining and quarrying workers earned the highest monthly salary in 2022 at RM9,422, followed by manufacturing (RM3,513), services (RM3,493), construction (RM2,536), and agriculture (RM1,827). Across the economy, skilled workers received the highest average monthly salary at RM6,967 in 2022, while semi-skilled and low-skilled workers received RM2,548 and RM1,798 respectively. Semi-skilled workers made up the largest segment of the workforce, comprising 59.8% of full-time paid employees – equivalent to 5.2 million people. Skilled workers and low-skilled workers accounted for 22.3% and 17.9% respectively of full-time paid employees. The number of people engaged in micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) stood at 6.5 million people or roughly 65.2% of the total workforce, while large enterprises employed 3.5 million people, or around 34.8% of the total workforce. Average monthly salaries and wages of employees in large enterprises stood at RM4,145 in 2022, roughly 47.5% more than the RM2,810 average in MSMEs. 'The salary and wage gap between MSMEs and large enterprises in Malaysia remains substantial, indicating a positive relationship between employee compensation, company size, and productivity,' said chief statistician Uzir Mahidin. In terms of total salaries and wages paid, Selangor led in 2022 with a total of RM106 billion, followed by the federal territories with RM78.4 billion and Johor with RM39.3 billion. They collectively accounted for 62.6% of total national salaries and wages.
Daily Mail
08-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Undercover Mail investigation exposes how crooked businesses are pocketing tens of thousands of pounds by illegally using skilled worker visas to get cheap labour for barbers, convenience stores and warehouses
Corrupt immigration advisers are helping illegal workers dupe the Home Office in a cash for visas scam, a Mail investigation has found. They are charging up to £22,000 per person to provide 'skilled' jobs in the UK for under-qualified foreign workers. It comes amid concern skilled worker visa routes could be hiding an immigration scandal 'worse than the small boats crisis'. Critics claim it could render Sir Keir Starmer 's immigration crackdown pointless after he made new restrictions on skilled visas a major tool in ending the economy's reliance on cheap overseas labour. The ruse has proved so lucrative that many companies have started up just to profit from hiring foreign staff – then shut down after a year, having extorted migrants and exploited them for cheap labour. The scam involves businesses telling the Home Office they can't find the right people in the UK and therefore need special 'sponsorship' licences to recruit workers from abroad. Immigration advisers then coach immigrants how to lie to officials, overstating their levels of education and experience to secure the visa. One adviser – a partner in a government-regulated advice firm – was secretly filmed admitting taking hefty bungs to teach foreigners how to fraudulently apply. Leicester-based Joe Estibeiro, the managing partner of an immigration advice firm, told the Mail's undercover reporter how he: Tricks the Home Office into believing employers need a certificate of sponsorship to take on overseas workers. Organises firms to advertise the positions in the UK. Helps employ immigrant workers who will officially earn about £3,000 a month to meet minimum salary requirements for the visas – but in reality they will receive only about £900 a month as they will have to hand the rest back to their boss. Secures the visas for applicants with little or only high school education in their home countries. Mr Estibeiro even claimed the Government didn't care if companies bring in unqualified staff on skilled worker visas, insisting: 'The Home Office is just interested in the money.' The foreign staff he helps recruit have to pay illegal work finder fees of between £19,000 to £22,000 to their new employer for the job and visa, with Mr Estibeiro pocketing a large commission. They then have to work 60 hours a week and, in real terms, will earn far below the minimum wage, in some cases with a take-home pay of less than £4 an hour. Mr Estibeiro, managing partner of immigration advisers Flyover International, said he works with businesses in Bradford, Leicester, Northampton and Peterborough. Incredibly, his Leicester headquarters overlooks the bureau of a Home Office affiliate where UK visa applications are processed. A long-serving recruiter for a small Hertfordshire domiciliary care company said there has been widespread abuse in the overseas recruitment of supposedly skilled workers. 'It's all gone absolutely mad,' she said. 'I don't understand how so many people are getting into this country without any checks. The situation is making the small boats crisis seem like a minor problem.' Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: 'These so-called immigration advisers and immigration lawyers appear very often to arrange immigration fraud. These people need to be identified.' Last night, border security minister Dame Angela Eagle said: 'We have immediately suspended this firm's sponsorship licence. 'Urgent investigations continue and if the allegations are true, they risk having their sponsor licence revoked and sponsored workers complicit in abuse could face their visas being cancelled.' The skilled worker visa scheme was introduced in December 2020 and in the first three years alone more than 931,000 visas were issued – far outpacing Home Office predictions of 360,000 for this period, according to the National Audit Office. Flyover International is regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority, but Mr Estibeiro is not a registered adviser. The firm specialises in international student recruitment. The firm is owned by another man who is understood to be investigating and said that Mr Estibeiro was not officially hired to work in the UK end of the business. Mr Estibeiro denied involvement in any 'illegal or unethical' activity and said he was 'solely involved in student recruitment'. He insisted he always told anyone who inquired about certificates of sponsorship for skilled worker visas that 'we do not deal with such matters'. The Immigration Advice Authority said: 'We recognise the seriousness of the issue and are working closely with the Home Office to determine the most appropriate course of action.' Dame Angela added: 'Since taking office there have been 40 per cent fewer visa applications, we have removed 24,000 people with no right to be here and arrests from illegal working raids are up 42 per cent.' Q&A How do UK companies hire overseas workers? Employers usually need a sponsor licence from the Home Office. This allows the firm to issue certificates of sponsorship for eligible overseas employees, which cost £525 per worker, to be paid to the Home Office. Employees use the certificates to obtain a UK skilled worker visa. Can firms or UK recruiters charge workers for sponsorship or jobs? No. Businesses are responsible for paying the sponsor licence fee and any associated administrative costs. The Home Office can revoke licences of businesses they find have recouped, or attempted to recoup, any part of the sponsor licence fee or associated administrative costs, by any means. It is also illegal for UK-based recruitment agencies to impose fees on individuals for the promise of securing employment opportunities. Is there a minimum salary for staff on skilled visas? Yes, though this varies depending on the role. For all routes, licensed businesses must ensure the role they are sponsoring the worker for complies with both the national minimum wage and the working time regulations. What are immigration legal advisers? Depending on their level, advisers can help with visa applications, obtaining leave to remain, nationality and citizenship and, at the highest level, represent clients at immigration tribunals. Advisers must be registered with the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) which is tasked with ensuring they are competent and act in their clients' best interests. What rules do they have to follow? The OISC Code of Standards says immigration legal advisers 'must not knowingly or recklessly allow clients, the Commissioner, the Home Office, the courts and tribunals and/or third-party agencies to be misled', and 'not abuse any judicial and/or immigration process.' Migration fixer's brazen promise to undercover reporter posing as Indian student By Tom Kelly, Investigations Editor for The Daily Mail Tightening restrictions on skilled worker visas was a centrepiece of Sir Keir Starmer's much-vaunted crackdown on spiralling immigration. The Prime Minister has promised that new rules – demanding that applicants for the permits must be graduates – would help to 'lower net migration', provide a higher-calibre workforce and stop the UK becoming an 'island of strangers'. But a Mail investigation can reveal that managers of immigration advice firms are already using tricks that could render many of the planned changes pointless. During an extraordinary hour-long meeting, Joe Estibeiro, managing partner of the immigration adviser Flyover International, detailed to our undercover reporter how he makes a mockery of government rules despite his firm being officially 'approved by the Home Office'. Skilled worker visas were introduced in December 2020 to mitigate the impacts of Brexit on the labour market and supposedly attract high-quality employees to the UK. Businesses licensed by the Home Office can pay a £574 fee to the department to issue certificates of sponsorship for foreign workers seeking to come to Britain using the visas. Employers must ensure that immigration laws are properly upheld, including a minimum salary depending on the job. Bosses and employment agencies also cannot charge a fee to a work-seeker for finding them a job or pass on visa charges or other administrative costs to the migrant. But from the headquarters of the Leicester-based firm, which also has offices in Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Anand in Gujarat and works with 350 agents across India, Mr Estibeiro told how he arranges sponsorship licences for crooked businesses and then recruits staff for them – for a five-figure fee. From the headquarters of the Leicester-based firm, which also has offices in Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Anand in Gujarat and works with 350 agents across India, Mr Estibeiro (pictured) told how he arranges sponsorship licences for crooked businesses and then recruits staff for them – for a five-figure fee He told our reporter, who was posing as an Indian student wanting to stay in the UK after his study visa expires, that he could arrange a job for him shelf-stacking and running the till at convenience stores in either Peterborough or Northampton. The opportunity would cost the reporter £19,000, plus the annual health surcharge. There was also the chance to work in a role moving stock at a drinks warehouse in Yorkshire, but this was more expensive because the boss had got a 'bit greedy' after recently managing to hire some Pakistani staff, who he claimed had paid the warehouse boss £22,000 to secure similar roles, Mr Estibeiro explained. Most of the illegal fee goes to the employer, but Mr Estibeiro said he took 'a little bit of commission' of £1,500. 'So basically you pay me and then I pay the employer,' he said. 'We will handle everything. So that's all-inclusive. So including the visa – I'll do all the paperwork.' The initial £5,000 deposit to start the process could be paid by bank transfer, but not to his company otherwise the foreign worker might reveal he was charged for a job. 'We can't take it on Flyover. I'll give either my personal account [or] I'll give somebody else's, like one of my clients' personal accounts. 'See, there can't be a trail of it. Can't be a paper trail. 'That's why even when I am sponsoring someone, I will use somebody else to do it.' Further payments would need to be cash, he added. Mr Estibeiro told the reporter that for both jobs he would on paper receive an annual salary of £33,000, most of which he would have to repay to his new boss. 'Basically, because when we get a COS [certificate of sponsorship,] we have to show £33,000 per annum,' he said. Tax on this official salary would be deducted and paid to HMRC as PAYE and National Insurance, so it all appeared official. 'Everything is paid… he's gonna get a pension. He's going to get proper payslip.' After these deductions, this would mean the reporter would receive about £2,750 monthly paid into his account for the convenience store job, but he would have to hand all but £900 back. 'The owner will tell him that, OK, put it in this account, or, you know, withdraw cash and give it.' The worker would also receive accommodation – probably a shared room above the shop – and food from the store owners. In return he would have to work ten hours a day, six days a week in the shop. In real terms this meant he would almost certainly be earning under the minimum wage. But Mr Estibeiro said: 'Once you get your visa… then you're on the route to permanent residency.' Sponsored migrants were also allowed to bring spouses and partners to the UK, he said. 'Within a month, go to India, get married, bring her back over here and then she can apply [for sponsorship to work].' Mr Estibeiro said he charged £1,750 for arranging the sponsorship licence and recruiting staff for firms. His services included providing a 'good justification' to show the licence was required to ensure the application was approved. But he explained there were ways to trick the Home Office into falsely believing the company was unable to recruit staff for the required role from the UK. 'What I do with my client, one month before, two months before, we start advertising on Indeed and all those job sites. 'We'll get candidates for interview. So, the worst candidates, we will record a conversation. The good ones we'll say, let's not record it. 'So then, if the Home Office does an inquiry as to why, you say I interviewed seven candidates, and if they say we need a proof, you have the proof.' He said once the worker was in place with a visa there would be no further checks from the Home Office to make sure he really was a specialist. 'They want people to come over here, because what is there in UK apart from immigration? How does UK make their money? Immigration.' Despite it being called a skilled worker visa, he said no specialist skill was required to get a certificate of sponsorship. Chuckling, Mr Estibeiro described how when he had his hair cut at a barber shop he had arranged a sponsorship licence for it was a 'disaster', apparently because the staff were actually trainees. And he explained how he had hired an overseas worker with only a high school education by claiming she was a 'senior web developer'. They tricked the Home Office by telling the worker to enrol in a short web course costing around £200 in India so the worker knew what to say when interviewed by UK immigration officials. Laughing, he said the worker was 'not a web developer', had completed only high school education and hadn't obtained a degree. He said things were even easier for migrants already in Britain hoping to switch from expiring education visas to skilled worker visas. 'The good thing is, in UK right now, Home Office is not giving interview. So once you put an application, once you get it, that's it. They don't ask you for what… That's the employer's responsibility. The Home Office is just interested in the money you're getting.' He described how his phone rings 'non-stop' from 7am until midnight. The high volume of applicants meant sponsorship licences for skilled workers have become so popular in recent years that 'everybody' was opening businesses just to make money out of the scheme – including himself. He said he had a restaurant which he opened 'only for immigration purpose'. 'So, you know, we'll get a sponsor licence. 'We'll sponsor, get their money and then tell one of them that, OK, you take over the business, sell the business to him. 'In a year, if we can make like, £30,000, £40,000. Why not?' 'This is how everybody got into this business of sponsor licence. The business was very good in 2024. A lot of people made a lot of money.' He even told a second undercover reporter at the meeting – who was posing as the Indian student's UK-based cousin – that he could organise a sponsorship licence for his fitness business so he could also charge overseas workers £20,000 for visas and jobs. Flyover International is based in a large centre a short drive from Mr Estibeiro's £300,000 four- bedroom semi-detached home in a smart suburb on the outskirts of the city. As the reporters left, he pointed across the concourse to an office of an official partner of the Home Office's UK Visas and Immigration section, where applicants to stay in the UK provide their biometrics and complete visa applications. The Home Office has launched an urgent investigation and suspended Flyover International's sponsorship licence. In the last six months of 2024, the Home Office revoked and suspended the highest total of skilled worker sponsor licences since records began in 2012. An Immigration Advice Authority spokesman told the Mail: 'We recognise the seriousness of the issue and are working closely with the Home Office to determine the most appropriate course of action.' Flyover International is owned by another man who is understood to be taking the matter seriously and investigating and says that Mr Estibeiro was not officially hired to work the UK end of the business. Mr Estibeiro denied involvement in any 'illegal or unethical' activity and said he was 'solely involved in student recruitment'. He insisted he always told anyone who inquired about certificates of sponsorship for skilled worker visas that 'we do not deal with such matters'.
CTV News
04-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Increasing permanent immigration for now could reduce temporary residency: Institut du Québec
Temporarily increasing the number of new permanent immigrants to Quebec could reduce reliance on temporary residency, according to the Institut du Québec (IQ). In a new report unveiled on Wednesday, IQ suggests several possible courses of action in a context where Quebec and Ottawa are seeing a decline in immigration flows compared with recent years. In one scenario, IQ proposes that Quebec plan for a temporarily higher permanent immigration threshold, up to 90,000. This target would be accompanied by a 'clear trajectory' back towards 60,000, 'to allow the integration of skilled temporary residents already present and to reduce delays in access to permanent residence.' IQ points out that Quebec could facilitate the transition to permanent residency for highly skilled temporary residents and maintain a pathway to permanent residency for international students who have graduated in Quebec. According to IQ, 'it is preferable to focus on permanent immigration rather than temporary residency' since 'people who choose to settle permanently make a greater contribution to Quebec society and the economy.' 'That said, temporary residents play an essential role in meeting certain specific labour market needs or serving as a gateway to permanent residence for skilled profiles,' adds IQ. The institute says it has also explored scenarios where Quebec would set its permanent immigration thresholds at 35,000 or 60,000, but believes that this would force the province to take in more temporary residents to meet needs. There are currently around 600,000 temporary residents in Quebec. For several months now, Quebec Premier François Legault has been hammering home the point that Quebec's capacity to take in newcomers has been exceeded and that temporary residents are putting pressure on housing and public services. – This report by The Canadian Press was first published on June 4, 2024.
Arab News
24-05-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Pakistan to export female beauticians to Saudi Arabia — state media
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Overseas Employment Corporation (OEC) will send skilled female beauticians to Saudi Arabia in response to a demand from a private firm in the Kingdom, state media reported on Friday, outlining the qualifications required for applicants. The initiative comes as part of Pakistan's long-standing labor export relationship with Saudi Arabia, which remains the top destination for Pakistani workers and contributes over $700 million in monthly remittances to the South Asian country. Pakistan regularly sends skilled labor to Gulf nations, including medical professionals, engineers and technicians. The latest move targets the beauty and personal care sector. 'Overseas Employment Corporation, an attached department of the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, will export skilled workers (female beauticians) to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,' the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said. It informed a Saudi firm is seeking beauticians for various roles, including senior hairdresser, nail technician (gel and acrylic), eyelash specialist, makeup artist, waxing and bleaching specialist and wig technician. The required qualifications include a minimum of three years' experience and an age limit of under 40 years. APP said the firm will offer senior beauticians a monthly salary of 3,000 Saudi Riyals or approximately $800. Employees will also receive free shared accommodation with furnishings and air conditioning, food allowance, and round-trip airfare, along with surface transport within Saudi Arabia if needed. The news report said applications must be submitted via the OEC website by June 8. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy robust economic, defense and cultural ties. The Kingdom hosts over 2.7 million Pakistani expatriates and remains the largest source of remittances to Pakistan, a crucial lifeline for the country's cash-strapped economy.
New York Times
24-05-2025
- General
- New York Times
Hong Kong's Famous Bamboo Scaffolding Hangs On (for Now)
As a truckload of bamboo poles pulled into a narrow street, Daisy Pak stubbed out a cigarette, pulled a safety harness over her paint-streaked leggings and began blasting Prince from a Bluetooth speaker. After maneuvering a loaded cart into an elevator, she opened a tiny window on the ninth floor and ducked out onto a narrow pipe, a bunch of zip ties sashaying behind her back like a bushy tail. She called for mid-length bamboo poles that she tied into a latticework clinging to the outside of the building. Ms. Pak, 31, is one of the few female bamboo scaffolding workers in Hong Kong, using an ancient Chinese practice that is synonymous with the city even as its use has faded elsewhere in China. She turned to the industry for a fresh start in 2021, after a hardscrabble upbringing and falling into drug addiction and debt. There was a demand for skilled construction workers, it paid relatively well, and she had a passion for the time-honored craft. 'It's so special, to build something completely all out of bamboo,' she said. Traditionally, workers learn their craft by shadowing one master with knowledge passed down through generations. But Ms Pak learned any way she could, working with different bosses to broaden her skills and techniques, and overcoming taunts about her ability as a novice and her 5-foot-1 stature. While dismantling a scaffold, a colleague once tossed her poles to catch instead of passing them downward. Contractors have tried to pay her less than she was promised. Her arms and legs were constantly bruised, but she carried on. 'I was born with the will to prove people wrong, to do things that they say cannot be done,' she said. But the industry that helped transform her life now faces its own uncertain future. Some, like Ms. Pak, are worried after Hong Kong's development bureau issued a memo in March requiring at least half of government projects to use metal scaffolding in an effort to gradually widen its use to keep pace with modern industry practices and improve safety. The city is one of the last bastions of an art — and later industry — that was first depicted in scroll paintings from the Han dynasty around 2,000 years ago, and it has thrived in bamboo-rich regions in China. But in the past two decades, the rest of China pivoted toward metal amid an overproduction of steel. Lattices of bamboo poles bound together by intricate knots regularly rise across the city to build and renovate apartment blocks and commercial skyscrapers that can be dozens of stories high. Advocates of the material, including Ms. Pak, say it is lighter and cheaper than metal to transport and carry in Hong Kong's tight urban spaces. Builders particularly favor the material when erecting platforms that support workers who patch up building exteriors and replace old pipes and window sills. The government development bureau wrote in a statement that metal scaffolds offered better fire resistance and were more rigid and durable. But it added that it had no intention to phase out bamboo scaffolds entirely, 'particularly in special circumstances including limited working space on site.' Tony Za, the former chairman of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers' building division, said that a spate of industrial accidents involving bamboo structures had prompted safety concerns. Metal scaffolds are more suitable for large-scale construction projects as skyscrapers grow taller and building materials change to include more glass, Mr. Za said. For metal scaffolding, engineers can make decisions such as how thick a pole to use and how far apart to space the ringlocks based on calculations accounting for load and extreme weather, Mr. Za said. But that cannot be done for bamboo scaffolds, because the poles do not come in uniform shapes, requiring the discretion of bamboo masters. Ms. Pak had the foresight to get licensed to work with metal scaffolds last year, saying she already used some metal components, such as platforms. 'They reinforce one another, like brothers scaling a mountain together,' she said. But her love for bamboo, bordering on sentimentality, has only grown. 'The material is so dynamic and resilient,' she said. 'It's just like the spirit of Hong Kong.' Passers-by often do a double take when they watch her haul a bundle of seven-foot bamboo poles with ease. Raised by a single mother, Ms. Pak worked in a seedy nightclub for a while but moved into construction during the pandemic. The daily rate for novices was about $90 and could go up to $250 for a skilled worker. With no connections in the industry, she trawled scaffolding groups on Facebook, asking if anyone would hire a female worker. Many contractors responded out of curiosity, she said. For the first year, she stayed on the ground, passing tools and bamboo poles several times her height to more seasoned workers dangling from rooftops and balconies. She said she earned greater acceptance as she became more experienced. She amassed several qualifications in the industry, including what is nicknamed the 'master license.' 'I am now respected,' she said. On a recent day off, she traveled to the outlying Po Toi Island to visit Kenny Lee, a veteran builder of open-air bamboo theaters outside temples used for religious celebrations and Cantonese opera performances. The technique for making such structures has been designated by the government as an intangible part of the cultural heritage. In recent weeks, Mr. Lee and his crew of about 10 builders constructed a theater at a cliff-side temple ahead of performances marking the birthday of Tin Hau, the goddess of seafarers. With minimal direction, the builders worked in synchrony: hauling heavy wooden logs and bamboo poles, and clambering up and down the theater's soaring rooftop. It was built upon uneven rocks; in high tide, the fir pillars slanted into the waters. 'There's joy and there's sorrow in this work,' Mr. Lee, 57, said, recounting days when he worked through typhoons to meet deadlines, even as hurricane-force winds hurled flower pots from neighboring buildings. In his heyday, Mr. Lee would build and dismantle as many as 30 bamboo theaters across the city every year. But the pandemic hit the business, and there is more profit to be made with the construction jobs that he needs to make ends meet, he said. 'You can't really make money,' he said. 'I do it for the gods, then for the brothers.' Ms. Pak has ideas on how to make the industry more accessible to newcomers and the public. She has taught high school students how to build a small scaffold and is preparing to launch a YouTube channel with tutorials on basic skills, such as tying knots with zip ties. Ms. Pak bought sour plum juice on the way to the temple to give to the crew and traded stories with them. She worked up the gumption to ask Mr. Lee to hire her for his next bamboo theater project. 'It would be a shame if the tradition dies in our hands,' she said.
