KUALA LUMPUR — The minimum wage will be raised from RM1,500 to RM1,700 per month effective February 1 next year.
For employers with less than five workers, a grace period of six months will be granted and the higher minimum wage will be effective for them starting August 1, 2025, Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said when tabling Budget 2025 in Parliament today.
“Economic restructuring is only considered successful when the people receive meaningful wages and salaries to live with more comfortably,” said Anwar, who is also the finance minister.
He said the Human Resources Ministry will also publish starting salary guidelines for all employment sectors for employees’ reference.
“For example, the starting salary for Industrial and Production Technicians (is RM2,290), Mechanical Engineers (RM3,380) and Professional Creative Content Designers (RM2,985),” Anwar said.
In line with this is the Progressive Wage Policy, which he said is the government’s effort to reform the labour market with the goal of increasing workers’ incomes.
“This policy has been implemented on a pilot basis last June and will be fully implemented next year.
“The Progressive Wage Policy is allocated RM200 million and will benefit 50,000 workers,” he said.
Additionally, RM250 million will be allocated to raise the participation rate of lower-income earners in programmes to increase their incomes, he added. — October 18, 2024