Next week in BIZHIVE Weekly
The cost of living is constantly on the rise as the economy grows and develops. To address this, governments have put in place policies to ensure that minimum wages can meet the current cost of living in their country or in their area. For Malaysia, Bank Negara Malaysia and economic analysts have called for an increase in minimum wage as wages in the labour market are viewed as low. Next week, BizHive Weekly explores Malaysia’s cost of living and the possibilities of raising the minimum wage here: “Since 2014, the incomes of the bottom 40 per cent (B40) of households expanded by 5.8 per cent on an annual basis, equivalent to RM156 per month. However, expenditures grew at a faster pace of six per cent, or RM120 per month, which leaves the B40 with little money to spend. The provision of living wage should also commensurate with productivity, and could be a step towards a higher quality of life in Malaysia. The living wage could serve as a guide of the income level needed to achieve the minimum acceptable living standard.”
Tan Sri Muhammad Ibrahim, Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia “ Dato Sri Idris Jala, Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) chief executive officer
“We must raise the minimum wage of Malaysian skilled workers to at least match that offered to skilled workers from abroad. One of the indicators of a high-income developed nation is having skilled workers make up 43 per cent of the workforce. We now have skilled workers making up 28 per cent of the workforce. I am confident we can achieve that target earlier than 2030.”
All these years people have talked about how Malaysia’s Poverty Line Income (PLI) is way too low and that we have been understating the amount of poverty in the country. If we don’t set some minimum standards about wages we can’t even be sure that employers will take the right steps to increase productivity per person because labour cost will be so cheap. To move into higher income we need a quantum leap in productivity and that means valuing a worker more and investing in training and tools to get there.”