“This is because this group is economically unproductive and lacks the financial means to lead a simple and decent lifestyle,” said National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) deputy secretary-general A Karuna.

She said this in her paper on social security protection at the first regional conference on current developments in employment laws in Malaysia and Asean, here, recently.

Karuna said a study by the Malaysian National Population and Family Development Board estimated that more than 500,000 of the 2.4 million senior citizens suffered from the “empty nest syndrome”, while 90 per cent of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contributors could not sustain their lifestyles beyond five years after retirement.

She said this was due to the low earning capacity of the workers.

According to EPF statistics, almost 75 per cent of its contributors earned less than RM2,000 per month in 2014.

The wage depression was partly due to the influx of foreign workers. As of December 2014, there were 6.7 million foreign workers in Malaysia with only 2.2 million legally registered.

The other concern for the country was that the foreigners were bringing in communicable diseases.

For example, in 2014, Fomema — the company responsible for foreign workers’ medical screenings — reported that it detected 24,000 cases of TB.

“But what is scary is that, out of the 1.27 million legal workers screened … 3 to 3.5 per cent had TB, and we do not have the health statistics on the 4.2 million undocumented foreign workers,” Karuna said.

She hoped the government and other stakeholders would do their part in overcoming the health and security problems faced by the people.

– BERNAMA