By DayakDaily Team
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 30: The Cabinet has agreed to temporarily exempt micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from the new minimum wage increase.
Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong said the decision was made after taking into account the sector’s capacity to cope with operational cost pressures and prevailing economic challenges.
“The government will take other approaches to help raise employee wages in the MSME sector, including wage subsidy support under the Progressive Wage Policy, so that wage increases move hand-in-hand with productivity growth,” he said in a statement today.
Sim said the issue of the minimum wage was raised at today’s Cabinet meeting, where ministers agreed that workers’ wages must continue to rise while ensuring local businesses, particularly MSMEs, are protected.
He said the government wanted to safeguard workers’ welfare through fairer wages while ensuring MSMEs remained competitive, enabling them to grow and continue creating employment opportunities.
Yesterday (Sept 29), Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri R. Ramanan was reported as saying that the government had yet to decide on the new minimum wage rate, amid speculation that it could be increased to RM2,000, RM2,100 or RM2,200.
Ramanan said any announcement on the new rate would only be made after obtaining Cabinet approval, including from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The media previously reported that Anwar had announced that the current RM1,700 minimum wage was expected to be raised, with details to be announced during the tabling of the 2027 Budget on Oct 9. — Bernama
