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KUCHING, Aug 7: The federal government has proposed a Progressive Wage Policy to improve salaries consistently and ensure a fairer distribution of wages.
Prime Minister Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the policy would be voluntary, incentive-based and productivity-linked.
“This policy model was proposed after National Economic Action Council (MTEN) took into account the views and interests of employers and employees.
“This policy, which is complementary to the Minimum Wage Policy, will be followed by annual progressive wage guidelines for each sector, occupation, and level.
“Engagement sessions and preliminary surveys have shown that 62 per cent of employees and 80 per cent of companies welcome the proposed Progressive Wage Policy with the stated characteristics, and MTEN hopes that this policy will receive the welcome and participation of as many companies and employees as possible,” he said in a statement after chairing a MTEN meeting today.
Anwar further said the next step is to hold discussions with stakeholders, especially industry players, businesses and workers.
Afterwards, the matter will be brought to the Federal Cabinet to deliberate on the implementation mechanism in stages and explore the need to allocate funds as an incentive for this policy which will be determined based on the government’s financial position and policy requirements.
Based on Employee Wages Statistics (Formal Sector) Report Q1 2023, over 2,000 workers in Malaysia still earn less than RM2,000 a month, and most of them would have their salaries increased to RM3,500 at the highest level around the age of 40 to 49 throughout their career.
Anwar also disclosed that Malaysian workers’ income (wage share ratio) has decreased from 37.2 per cent in 2020 to 32.4 per cent in 2022.
Following this, the government has set a target for this ratio to increase to 45 per cent of total income. – DayakDaily
