KUCHING, Nov 10 — A total of 2,503 workers in Sarawak have been retrenched due to the global economic downturn since the end of 2007, the state assembly was told today.
Minister in the Chief Minister’s Office (Human Resources and Training) Datin Fatimah Abdullah said Sarawak was not spared from the effect of the recent economic downturn where several economic sectors had experienced sluggish performance, culminating in several industries retrenching their workers.
“Of the 2,503 workers, 70 per cent were locals while the remaining 30 per cent were foreigners,” she said in reply to Datuk Talib Zulpilip (BN-Jepak).
From the 2,503 workers retrenched in the state, Fatimah said, 1,614 were workers from the world’s second largest computer hard disk drive manufacturer, Western Digital, which closed its plant in Sama Jaya Free Industrial Zone here.
“However, after Hitachi Storage Technologies officially took over Western Digital’s plant on July, the workers were rehired by Hitachi,” she said.
Fatimah said that since 2007, a total of 125,516 jobs had been created in the state and the majority or 76 per cent of these jobs were in the elementary jobs category while the remaining was in trade and services sector. — Bernama
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