KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 10): The government is committed to adopting a voluntary, incentive-based, and productivity-linked progressive wage policy, which is designed to reward rather than penalise employers, according to Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli.
“This is the only wage model that satisfies the main stakeholders of the employers and employees, as it rewards rather than penalises employers, and it keeps a close eye on the productivity increases of workers, which we make a condition for this policy,” he said in his speech at the World Bank event on Tuesday (Oct 10).
Recognising the urgency of the wage problem, Rafizi said regressive action needs to be taken by the government to alleviate the issue. “When the median wage of RM2,600 per month is only RM11 above the poverty line (RM2,589 per month) and half of all Malaysian workers earn only slightly more than the minimum wage, we cannot take a wait-and-see approach any longer," he said.
In August, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was quoted as saying that the progressive wage policy, which will be included in the Budget 2024 that will be tabled on Friday, would serve as a shift towards recovering the labour market that could be enhanced more consistently with a more balanced wage distribution.
Anwar said the policy model was proposed after the National Economic Action Council took into consideration the views and interests of employers and workers.