Malaysian Cannot Afford To Retire

Many Malaysian job applicants found difficulty in getting hired because they lacked proficiency in English. Statistics from the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) that about 200,000 graduates in the country were unemployed, with poor command of the English language as one of the main reasons.

On another matter, he said Malaysia was heading towards becoming an aged nation by 2030 and yet 67% or 4.46 million active contributors to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) had not achieved basic saving requirement.

Citing EPF statistics, he said contributors were estimated to need a minimum savings of RM820 per month for 20 years, which would come up to RM196,800 in their old age.

It is unlikely that this target is achievable given the high cost of living and the indirect taxes to which the people are being subjected to today. The problem is acute as the young population, which was 31.5% in 2005, is expected to dip to 17.7% in 2030 and further reduced to 13.5% by 2050.

In contrast, the population, aged 60 and above, is expected to increase from 6.7% in 2005 to 15.5% in 2030 and 25.7% by 2050. It is believed that half of ex-EPF members exhaust their EPF savings in five years, creating the spectacle of old-age penury.