HUMAN Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan should focus on reforming our labour laws to keep up with the gig economy and the reality of a post-pandemic world rather than the minimum wage issue.
Recently, the minister said the minimum wage would be increased to “around RM1,500” by the end of this year. While we do not oppose any reasonable increase to the minimum wage, we urge the government to align any such increment with the growth in GDP and labour productivity. Malaysia’s labour productivity declined by 5.6% in the third quarter of 2021.