Focus on skills for higher salaries

Mohd. Nazri Zakaria, COO of Malaysia Construction Academy (ABM) for the Northern Territory, admits that anyone is able to earn high income in the construction industry and exceeding jobs in other fields.

According to Mohd. Nazri, a former student of his from ABM Wilayah Utara who is highly skilled in handling mobile cranes could earn up to RM10,000 a month after only two years of graduation.

The recent mobile crane tragedy said to involve foreign workers demonstrated the importance of skills among local workers involved in the construction industry.

He added that the earned income can exceed most of those who graduated after two years of graduation in other subjects.

The young people and youth of Malaysia are often teased were they not able to enter public universities. Views like these leads skills shortage, particularly in the construction industry.

It is not that we are unable to produce highly skilled workers but the overall lack of interest has an adverse effect on the economy. At the same time, not many parents encourage their children to venture into this sector.

According to Dr. Rohami Shafie, Senior Lecturer in Accounting and Finance School of Accounting Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz (Missa-UUM) College of Business (COB), Universiti Utara Malaysia, there is no reason for local youth or parents to be skeptical about the future of the construction industry, particularly as the Malaysian government has always emphasized to improve the construction industry.

This is evident in the 11th Malaysia Plan (Rancangan Malaysia ke-11 / RMK-11), the government is targeting the construction industry to grow at 10.3 percent per annum. The industry is also expected to contribute 5.5 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2020.