Issues on foreign labourers productivity on green buildings in Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract

Malaysia is Asia's largest net labour importer, suggesting that the construction sector is significantly reliant on foreign labour, primarily from Nepal, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Bangladesh. Foreign labourers are needed to fill labour shortages caused by locals' reluctance to seek jobs in the construction sector. The demand for green buildings escalates the demand for foreign labour. However, there are criticisms of the performance of green buildings on account of accidents on sites, poor workmanship, and project delays. Hence, this research investigates the nature of foreign labourers in the construction of green buildings. In 2021, a total of 100 surveys were administered during the construction of the green building in Selangor, yet only 80 were returned, resulting in an 80% response rate. Based on the results, it is found that the industry's reliance on foreign immigrants arose because of its labour-intensive and dirty, hazardous, and difficult nature, which discourages the locals. The results of the test of goodness of fit for the impact of foreign labourers on the construction of green buildings. The results revealed that all the constructs were statistically significant. Results also found that poor communication leads to accidents, language barriers, a lack of understanding, and poor workmanship badly impacting the projects. Furthermore, a lack of knowledge and education reduces the green building's productivity. Not all foreign labourers are very well experienced in green building construction due to the new concept that they never heard of before in their countries.