The construction labour shortage in Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Abstract

Construction industry is one of the sectors that require the Labor intensive to fulfill the work site. However, we always hear the problems related to the shortage of the construction workers. Therefore, the purpose of this study are to estimate the current shortage composition of construction labor, to evaluate the problem faced by contractor when hired labor, to examine contractor method of acquiring construction labor, and to investigate the strategies taken by contractor to overcome shortage of labor. The questionnaire will be distributed to the 35 of construction site which targeting project representative that involved with construction site in Johor Bahru district, Malaysia, in order to obtain their feedback related to this topic. The Johor Bahru district is located in the southern part of Johor in the Malay Peninsula, separated from Singapore by Straits of Johor. The district covers an area of 1,871 km² and has a population of over 2 million. The data will be analyzed using SPSS 16 in order to obtain average index, frequencies and percentage calculation. The result obtained from analysis will be represent in data table, bar and pie chart. The result of this study indicates that the current shortage and demand of the current construction are about 12.14% from the total labor workforce which is about 360 workers for 35 projects sites.