KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 8): The government is confident of achieving its target of raising workers’ compensation to 40% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030, in line with the aspirations of the 13th Malaysia Plan (13MP), Deputy Economy Minister Datuk Mohd Shahar Abdullah said.

He said the government, through the Economy Ministry, would accelerate structural economic transformation towards a high-value economy driven by innovation, digitalisation, advanced technologies and knowledge-intensive activities to raise workers’ compensation.

“This structural transformation will create more skilled jobs offering higher wages.

“Implementation of national strategic initiatives such as the New Industrial Master Plan (NIMP) 2030, National Semiconductor Strategy (NSS) and National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) will attract more high-quality investment opportunities,” he said during a question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday.

He was responding to a question from Mohd Syahir Che Sulaiman (Perikatan Nasional-Bachok), who asked about the government’s strategy to raise workers’ compensation to 40% of GDP by 2030, including measures to ensure wage growth keeps pace with productivity.

Mohd Shahar said workers’ compensation accounted for 33.9% of GDP in 2025, up from 33.6% in 2024, an increase of 0.3 percentage point.

He said the government would also consider expanding the Progressive Wage Policy to strategic sectors to ensure efforts to raise workers’ wages remain aligned with productivity growth.

“At the same time, the government is committed to raising the benchmark wage to RM3,500, and we are currently on track to achieve that target,” he added.

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