Latest news with #manpower
Free Malaysia Today
6 days ago
- Health
- Free Malaysia Today
Indonesia offers nurses to address staffing shortage
Indonesia has already begun state-level collaboration with a hospital in Johor, including starting the process of recruiting nursing candidates. PETALING JAYA : The Indonesian consulate-general in Johor Bahru has proposed allowing Indonesian nurses to work in Malaysia to alleviate the manpower shortage in the healthcare sector. The consul-general of Indonesia in Johor Bahru, Sigit S Widiyanto, said the move would benefit both countries as Malaysia is facing a shortage of healthcare workers — including nurses — while Indonesia has a surplus in the field. In a Bernama report, Sigit expressed confidence that Indonesians would have no difficulty adjusting to living in Malaysia as both countries share a similar language and culture. He also said Indonesian nurses are well qualified to work in Malaysia as they are already employed in other countries like Australia, Japan, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Singapore. 'If Indonesian nurses can work in those countries, surely they can work in Malaysia. 'Asean member countries have agreed that nursing is among the professions open for cross-border mobility. Of course, there needs to be skill alignment and compliance with existing regulations, but that shouldn't be a major issue.' Sigit said Indonesia has already begun state-level collaboration with a hospital in Johor, including starting the process of recruiting candidates. He said this required approval from the health ministry, the Malaysia Nursing Board and other relevant parties. Sigit also said the consulate plans to focus on recruiting nurses from the Riau and Riau Islands provinces as a starting point to place healthcare professionals in Malaysian hospitals. He noted that there are health education institutions under Indonesia's health ministry which could serve as key sources for nursing candidates. 'We've already discussed establishing a twinning programme to allow graduates in Indonesia to pursue six months of further study in Malaysia before starting work here,' he said. Earlier, Johor menteri besar Onn Hafiz Ghazi said major hospitals in Johor Bahru are facing a critical shortage of healthcare staff, with some nurses managing 10 to 14 patients per shift. He said the ideal ratio is 1:6. The International Council of Nurses last year called on the government to develop a long-term plan to address a critical shortage of nurses. The council said Malaysia's shortage – projected to reach nearly 60% of the total nursing workforce by 2030 – had been exacerbated by high-income nations hiring experienced nurses from Asia, attracting them with better pay and working conditions. Last June, the health ministry said it was addressing 6,787 vacant nursing posts caused by both existing vacancies and newly created positions following facility upgrades.
Russia Today
31-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Mobilization proceeding ‘normally'
Ukrainian Defense Minister Denis Shmigal has claimed that the country's mobilization process is proceeding 'absolutely normally' in 90% of cases. He dismissed media reports that focus on forced conscription, saying it only reflects a small fraction of the reality. Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Kiev has enforced a general mobilization, requiring all able-bodied men ages 25 to 60 to serve in the armed forces. However, Ukrainian commanders have consistently reported manpower shortages. Ukraine's Territorial Centers of Recruitment and Social Support (TCR) have since conducted a mobilization campaign which has drawn widespread criticism for its violent enforcement tactics. Numerous videos posted on social media show TCR officers chasing men through the streets, dragging them into unmarked minibuses, and assaulting both recruits and bystanders – a practice now widely dubbed 'busification'. Shmigal defended the process in a BBC Ukraine interview published on Wednesday. 'People receiving summons come to serve. They are not grabbed, they are not dragged,' he said, claiming that 'scandalous' incidents involving beatings and coercive recruitment tactics account for just 5-10% of all cases. He added that media reports on these scandals are harmful to national security. He attributed the incidents of abuse to the 'human factor,' and maintained that without the TCR, 'we would have lost this war a long time ago.' Ukraine is believed to mobilize 17,000 to 30,000 men per month, according to TASS estimates based on statements from Ukrainian and Western sources. If Shmigal's 10% estimate is accurate, this would indicate up to 3,000 cases of forced conscription each month – an average of around 100 per day – suggesting the phenomenon is more widespread than previously reported. Last month, Ukrainian MP Yury Kamelchuk told local media that only 20-25% of recruitment targets are met through voluntary enlistment. 'The rest, unfortunately, the TCRs are ordered to provide,' he said. 'The quality of their work is abysmal, because they draft everyone.' Earlier this week, Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky signed a law allowing men over 60 to enter contract-based military service to address recruitment shortfalls.
CNA
18-07-2025
- Business
- CNA
CAAS to launch S$200 million fund to develop aviation sector workforce
SINGAPORE: The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) will establish a S$200 million (US$156 million) fund to support the aviation sector's manpower needs, it said on Friday (Jul 18). Named the OneAviation Manpower Fund, it will back initiatives to attract, develop and retain the aviation workforce in Singapore. Schemes tapping on the fund will be designed together with unions, aviation employers and educational partners, and target specific manpower development needs for the sector, said CAAS in a news release. The S$200 million is part of a S$1 billion sum previously announced in March to support Singapore's air hub development over the next five years. In addition, CAAS and Workforce Singapore (WSG) have jointly published a jobs transformation report for Singapore's aviation sector. It takes stock of the current workforce, identifies future trends and develops programmes to help Singaporeans seize future opportunities in the sector. The report was launched by Senior Minister of State for Transport and National Development Sun Xueling on Friday at the OneAviation Careers and Education Fair 2025 at the Suntec City Convention Centre. This is the first comprehensive manpower study of Singapore's aviation sector, with insights gathered from over 200 companies and detailed workshops conducted with key companies, said CAAS. "MEGATRENDS" IMPACTING AVIATION JOBS According to the report, the key "megatrends" that will impact aviation jobs and skills over the next five years include digitalisation, data and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as automation and robotics. It added that these trends will transform current jobs and create new ones in the sector, affecting up to 30 per cent of the workforce. The sector must respond to such trends to stay competitive and resilient, said CAAS. One example is how automation, robotics and digitalisation can transform the traditionally labour-intensive nature of airport ground handling services. In addition, the report noted that Singapore's aviation sector directly employs more than 60,000 workers, and that this workforce will grow along with rising air travel demand. It identified 31 operational job functions vital to day-to-day air hub operations, including pilots and cabin crew, baggage and cargo handling professionals, aircraft engineers, aviation security officers and in-flight catering chefs. "The sector will continue to build a pipeline of skilled professionals to fulfil these functions as the air hub grows," said CAAS. As part of such efforts, CAAS signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Friday with nine institutes of higher learning, bringing the sector and the institutions together to identify changing training needs, develop curriculum and offer internships and in-house training. The aviation authority also inked an MOU on the same day with various organisations, including AI Singapore, to work towards building a pool of AI talent for aviation and using the technology to improve labour productivity. In addition, Workforce Singapore will develop a playbook later this year to help aviation employers identify vital skillsets for emerging job roles and implement job redesign opportunities, said CAAS. "The International Air Transport Association (IATA) projects global air passenger demand to double over the next 20 years. As a premier air hub, Singapore is well-placed to capture this growth," said CAAS director-general Han Kok Juan. "As we grow, the Singapore aviation sector will provide new and exciting career opportunities for Singaporeans, now, and in the future," he added. The various initiatives by the CAAS, including the S$200 million fund and the agreements inked, will provide a "big boost" to Singapore's efforts to develop its aviation workforce, he added.
CNA
18-07-2025
- Business
- CNA
CNA938 Rewind - Mind Your Money - Are gig workers the new answer to manpower shortage?
As manpower shortages grow, more businesses are turning to gig workers to stay nimble. Cheryl Goh speaks to Julian Tan, Founder & CEO of FastCo, to explore how flexible talent is helping companies adapt and why more people are choosing gig work as a long-term path.
Russia Today
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Ukraine needs people not weapons
Kiev's greatest challenge in the ongoing conflict with Moscow is not a lack of Western weapons, but a critical shortage of manpower, Ukrainian lawmaker Anna Skorokhod has said. US President Donald Trump on Monday pledged to provide Ukraine with more weapons – funded by European NATO states – and threatened Moscow with 'severe tariffs' if no peace deal is reached within 50 days. 'We've heard something like this before, and I say it's a game,' Skorokhod said in an interview with the Ukrainian political YouTube channel Superposition. 'Our main problem is people. Nobody is giving us people,' she added. 'We can expect Trump to decide on providing weapons, but I want to emphasize that war cannot last forever.' The Ukrainian lawmaker dismissed Trump's ultimatum to Moscow as political maneuvering, arguing that none of the key players can afford to lose what even US Secretary of State Marco Rubio once openly described as a 'proxy war' with Russia. In a separate video last week, Skorokhod criticized official casualty figures as misleading and urged citizens to examine cemeteries and Red Cross data on missing persons to grasp the true scale of the losses. 'Just look at the demographic situation... If we are heading toward erasing the nation to zero, we are very quickly and successfully succeeding in this,' she warned. Ukraine's population was just under 52 million when it declared independence in 1991 amid the USSR's collapse. By the time of the last census in 2001, that number had dropped to 48.5 million. A 2024 government demographic report estimates the population in Kiev-controlled territories at 31.1 million. Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky officially acknowledged fewer than 50,000 military casualties as of February, but third-party estimates and increasingly harsh forced mobilization measures suggest the actual number is much higher. At the same time, Kiev is bracing for continued labor shortages, as many Ukrainians who fled since the escalation of the conflict in 2022 show little intention of returning. Moscow has accused Kiev of waging a war 'to the last Ukrainian' on behalf of Western nations, with Russian President Vladimir Putin saying that Ukraine's recruitment officers are grabbing people 'like dogs on the street.'
