Investigating of Indonesian Construction Labour Skill Standard to Fulfill Malaysian Construction Sector Requirement

Abstract

Construction is a labour-intensive industry. Malaysian construction sector is highly depend on foreign labours. The number of them nearly 70% of its workforce. 71.3% of total foreign labour is Indonesian labour. Those foreign labours, largely unskilled, did not contribute to skill formation. Many of the current problems in Malaysian construction labour market are the level of labours skills. The paper is on-going research. The research purposed to elaborate skills level measurement of construction labours in each of the trades. This method is going to be used observation and structured interview. The data obtained will be used to compare Malaysian construction skill standard and Indonesian construction skill standard. Then a model of skills standard is going to describe skills in each of trade in a way that is widely recognized and consistent with practices for training and certification. National Occupational Analysis (NOA) that compiled by The Construction Sector Council of Canada will be applied. According to previous research, Indonesia is the biggest country sending construction labours in Malaysia. The Indonesian construction labours in Malaysia are largely unskilled and semi skilled labours. The most trades of Indonesian construction labours in Malaysia are carpenters, bricklayers, plumbers, plasterers and painters. Measuring skills in construction is very important to find a way to meet that need by tracking the requirements for the specific skills in each of trade, specially for Indonesia as the biggest labours suppliers and Malaysia as labours user. Keywords : construction labour, skills standard