KUALA LUMPUR: A Progressive Wage Policy White Paper is one of the government's strategies to increase the median wage for workers, thus increasing the rate of Employee Compensation (CE) during the remaining period of the 12th Malaysia Plan as well as the period 10 years from now.
Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli said the CE rate was at 32 per cent last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic which caused many to lose their jobs.
"At the same time, Covid-19 also caused salary increases to be not possible as in previous years as the priority of companies and employers was to ensure they themselves had sufficient cash flow for survival.
"The choice at that time was whether to have staff layoffs or ensure they (employees) are retained but without salary increases," he said during a question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today (November 30).
Rafizi was replying to a question from Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin (PN-Putrajaya) about the approach that will be used by the government to ensure the target rate of 40 per cent of CE of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2025 will be achieved.
Rafizi said a total of 17 major (policy) shifts have been identified for the purpose of increasing CE, among them is an emphasis on high-value, high-growth industries such as technology and digital as well as electricity and electronics.
According to him, these initiatives are very important to encourage the shift of economic activities to a higher value chain and to attract more quality investments in the knowledge-intensive industries, aiming to create skilled jobs that offer high income.
Apart from this, the government will begin to introduce a progressive wage policy to reform the wage structure of Malaysian workers and as a complement to the existing policies of the minimum wage and the Productivity-linked Wage System (PLWS).
"This measure aims to raise the median salary of workers and subsequently increase the CE rate so that workers get better wages to offset their living costs," added Rafizi. — BERNAMA
