Govt plans to raise minimum wage of local skilled workers to RM3,500

KUALA LUMPUR: The Government wants the minimum wage of local skilled workers to be raised to RM3,500, the amount paid to their foreign counterparts.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the ultimate aim was to increase the amount to RM5,000 by 2030.

“Why do we deny our local skilled workers from getting higher wages,” he told reporters after launching the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Malaysia 2018 Expo here yesterday.

Dr Ahmad Zahid said he had directed the Human Resource Ministry to prepare a Cabinet paper to formalise the TVET Malaysia Council, adding that he would offer himself to be chairman of the vocational programme council to drive it towards higher certification, recognition and better wages.

He said skilled workers made up only 28% of the local workforce compared with 43% in advanced countries.

“That means efforts must be carried out by all seven ministries to achieve more than 43% of skilled workers by 2030,” he said, alluding to the Human Resource, the Higher Education, Education, Youth and Sports, Rural and Regional Development, Works and Agriculture and Agrobased Ministries, to develop a synergised programme for TVET.

Meanwhile, Deputy Education Minister Datuk Chong Sin Woon said TVET students were highly sought after and were being offered good jobs even before graduation.

He said 90% out of 13,000 TVET students secured jobs before they graduated last year, adding that this proved that the country was in need of more skilled and technical workers.

He advised schoolleavers who did not do well in the SPM exam not to rush to join the workforce.

“Students who opt to work immediately after SPM usually get lowpaying jobs,’’ he said after launching Eakon Academy, a new vocational skills training institution by the Eakon Group of Companies, yesterday.