The decision was also in line with the government’s decision to raise the minimum wage to RM1,500 a month during the first five years of PH government administration. Reuters File Photo
KUCHING: The Human Resource Ministry today dismissed the complaints of several quarters over concerns that the minimum wage hike would only benefit low wage earners in selected cities and was unfair to their counterparts in rural areas.
The proposed minimum wage increase of RM1,200 per month in major cities is expected to benefit low wage workers by increasing basic wage rates and reducing the impact of the rising cost of living in major cities, the ministry explained through a press statement.
The decision was also in line with the government’s decision to raise the minimum wage to RM1,500 a month during the first five years of Pakatan Harapan (PH) government’s administration.
Therefore, the PH government will be gradually increasing minimum wage, it added.
“The government will take into consideration the implication towards the operating costs of employers, while maintaining employment,” the ministry stressed.
Last week, the Ministry told Bernama that it decided to raise the minimum monthly wage to RM1,200 in major towns under 57 city and municipality councils while the minimum wage would remain at RM1,100 a month for the rest of the country.
With the order to be gazetted soon, the new minimum wage would apply to all workers in the private sector except those in the domestic service as stipulated under the Minimum Wages Order 2018.