Page 338 - The Guide To Sarawak

336 SARAWAK MEANS BUSINESS
Sarawak’s young workforce is both ambitious and well educated, as demonstrated by this degree award convocation at Swinburne University Kuching. Ever since taking office, the former Chief Minister (now Governor), has pushed hard to develop higher education in Sarawak, first with the establishment of UNIMAS, Sarawak’s first university, and subsequently with the opening of two major branch campuses, Curtin University Miri and Swinburne Kuching.
enter the labour market have undergone at least
11 years of education up
to secondary school level and are eager to acquire new skills and become productive. Unemployment is low at only 3.8% of the 1.18 million strong labour force in 2013. However, high employment does
not translate into a labour shortage; pro-business immigration laws allow recruitment of essential labour from overseas.
To cater to the knowledge economy and skill-intensive industries and service, the government is working closely with the private sector to develop best practices in education from nursery right up to university. After completing
secondary school, there
are four public universities, six private universities and university colleges, including two foreign university branch campuses, as well
as a host of polytechnics, community colleges, private colleges and vocational training institutions. These figures do not even include the many thousands
of young Sarawakians
who pursue their further and higher education in Peninsular Malaysia and overseas.
Local labour laws uphold the interests and spell out the rights and responsibilities of both employers and employees. As a result, industrial relations are harmonious and trade
disputes and strikes are rare. The minimum wage law for private sector employees, implemented on 1st January, 2013, provides adequate compensation for workers without incurring prohibitive labour costs
for employers, with the minimum wage in Sarawak set more than one tenth lower than in Peninsular Malaysia. Thanks to Sarawak’s lower cost of living, payroll costs are usually very attractive to prospective investors.
Location & Transportation
Sarawak is close to some of the world’s most important sea routes and is positioned at the heart of Southeast Asia, perfectly located for ease of access to East and