New Minimum Wage To Be Expected In Two Months
The country’s minimum wage is expected to increase within the next couple of months across the board for all Malaysians and foreign citizens.
This decision was made upon the completion of the review on the 2016 Minimum Wages Order by the National Wages Consultative Council (NWCC), said Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran.
“This recommendation (to increase minimum wage) will be tabled to the government in the near future. If there are no obstacles, this order will come into effect in a month or two,” he replied in response to a question on the Pakatan Harapan’s promise of standardising the monthly minimum wages of employees across the country and increasing them to RM1,500 within their first term as government.
“The implementation of the new minimum wage across the board will go on in line with our 10 promises in 100 days, to ensure the rakyat get equal rights on the aspect of salary, regardless of their states,” he added.
Currently, the minimum wage in the Peninsular Malaysia is RM1,000, and RM920 for Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.
However, the new minimum wage amount has yet to be announced.
The minimum wage will be reviewed every two years, before finally peaking at the RM1,500 rate as promised by the end of their current term as government, he said.
The review will take into account factors such as productivity growth rate, employers’ ability to pay the salaries and unemployment rate.
The implementation of minimum wage will not discriminate against foreign workers in the spirit of human rights as enshrined in the International Labour Organisation Convention.
“The standardised wage is also to guarantee and protect job opportunities for the locals. If they are not (uninformed), then there will instances where employers would prefer taking foreigners as they could pay them at a lower rate,” he said.
Although this is good news for employees, Kulasegaran acknowledged that the new wages would incur more costs to the private and government sectors, directly and indirectly, especially for government contracts that are outsourced.
“In view of this, the government have studied the matter to ensure the implementation is done according to the rehabilitation of the country’s economy.”
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