COMMENT After the shocker of a steep levy hike on foreign labour, Putrajaya must have thought that the news was not good enough.

The announcement on the additional 1.5 million workers from Bangladesh to the already 6 million foreign workers in Malaysia, will now easily outnumber our 6.5 million local workforce - in both the public and private sectors.

Never mind the fact that the reliance on foreign workers would entrench our 'middle-income trap’. Never mind the malaise of a low-skilled workforce that will perpetually cause our industries to always remain anaemic in the low value-added economy and unable to graduate to a higher income one, by virtue of paying higher remuneration based on productivity.