KOTA KINABALU: The government will not impose a different private sector minimum wage for Sabah and Sarawak if a review conducted by the National Wage Consultation Council (NWCC) finds that the economies of the two states continue to grow, said Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri Dr S Subramaniam.
He said the national minimum wage rate for the private sector, at RM900 a month or RM4.33 an hour for Peninsular Malaysia and RM800 or RM3.85 an hour for Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan were not permanent rates and that a review would be carried out after two years depending on the current economic situation.
He said the NWCC would take into account the median wage which employers could afford to offer, Poverty Line Income (PLI), the percentage growth of productivity, Consumer Price Index and current unemployment rates, to decide on the minimum wage.
“The process of deciding minimum wage is based on firm economic details, not based on personal views or done by politicians while the implementation is flexible and will be reviewed every two years,” he said here, yesterday.
He said this to reporters after attending a briefing on the implementation of minimum wage for the private sector to about 500 employers and workers in Sabah.
He said the different rates decided by the government recently was caused by low median wage and high PLI in Sabah and Sarawak compared to the peninsula.
“Based on the indicators, our direction after this is to reduce or get rid of the difference altogether and hope they can be achieved after a review two years later,” he said at the function which was also attended by Sabaha Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Dr Yee Moh Chai.
Subramaniam said currently, the median wages in Sabah and Sarawak were RM577.40 and RM738.71 respectively, compared to RM1,134.25 in the peninsula while the PLI in the two states were RM1,048 and RM912 respectively, compared to RM763 in the peninsula. — Bernama