GEORGE TOWN: The National Wage Consultative Council (NWCC) is now preparing a report to Cabinet on the suggested changes in minimum wage after the council met at the end of June.
Human Resources Minister Steven Sim said NWCC, a tripartite council consisting representatives from employers, employees and the government discussed the findings of the minimum wage.
"Minimum wage, is it important? It is very important, I have seen the data, statistics, research. We are talking about those in the bottom 10 at least, have a positive wage growth of up to 60 per cent in the last 10 years because of minimum wage policy.
"So it is very, very important, it is very, very crucial that we are doing it because again, as I always stress, via tripartite consultation with workers, employers, as well as government,” he said when delivering his keynote address at the Northern Region HR Conference 2024 in Setia SPICE Convention Centre, Bayan Lepas here Thursday (Aug 1).
Sim, however, stressed that the government do not believe in raising wages using law alone and should raise wages by fiat alone although minimum wage mechanism is crucial and is seen having positive effects in the bottom 10.
Hence he said this year, the government is piloting the Progressive Wage Policy beginning June where the government paying employers for them to pay their employees higher wages.
"Workers taking part in this programme will have to go through 21 hours of skill training because we want to ensure that higher pay commensurate to up-to-date skills to improve productivity,” while adding that about 430 companies had registered and 1,200 workers benefiting from the new policy as of now.
The pilot project is being conducted ahead of the full implementation of the Progressive Wage Policy, which aims to raise wages and achieve a more balanced income distribution and is a part of the government's commitment to reform the labour market, aimed at increasing workers' incomes in line with productivity gains.
On March 14, Sim said the government will review the minimum wage this year as the last time the government reviewed the minimum wage was in May 2022 by increasing it from RM1,200 to RM1,500.
Meanwhile, Sim also said Human Resources Ministry is working to consolidate RM2.6bil skill training resources within the ministry to provide better delivery for skills training.
"We envision a highly accessible, affordable one-stop high quality skills training ecosystem for all Malaysians. This is major work in progress,” he said.
The one-day Northern Region HR Conference 2024, brings together HR professionals and industry experts, aims to provide valuable knowledge and practical strategies to enhance HR practices in their organisation with focus on building a resilient workforce while reducing dependency on foreign labor. - Bernama
