KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 1,000 employers will participate in the Progressive Wage Policy (PWP) pilot which starts in June, says Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli.
He said companies from five sectors, namely, manufacturing, construction, wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles; information and communication; as well as professional, scientific and technical activities, were invited to participate in the pilot project.
"This is a government initiative to ensure that the people's wages are aligned with an increase in productivity to push Malaysia towards (achieving) a high-income nation status.
"Selection of companies for the pilot project will go through a process that emphasises policy support, sectoral needs, and equity," he said in a posting on X today.
He said selected employers would receive incentives of RM200 per month for each entry-level employee and a maximum RM300 per month for each non-entry-level employee.
Eligible employers, those with employees earning between RM1,500 and RM4,999, can claim incentives from the government, he said.
"Each employee registered under the PWP must undergo skills enhancing courses or training for at least three days (21 hours).
"The pilot project will be evaluated in September to ensure policy readiness before the Progressive Wage Policy is fully implemented across all employers and sectors."
Meanwhile, Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) president Datuk Dr Syed Hussain Syed Husman expressed hope that the PWM policy would eventually be able to achieve the goal of improving people's quality of life, as well as increasing productivity and competitiveness of the country.
"Currently, many employers are not yet aware of the details of PWM implementation and this slightly slows down their response to it.
"MEF believes that employers will give a positive response to participating voluntarily in the PWM pilot project following efforts made by the government and stakeholders to raise awareness on it."
He emphasised that PWM was not only about paying higher wages to workers, but would also mean improving employees' skills through training.
The improvement of skills, combined with the application of new technology in operations and business processes would increase the productivity of employers, he said.
"PWM is a win-win policy for all stakeholders, namely employees, trade unions, employers and the government.
"Through PWM, the country's competitiveness will be able to be raised to the top 12 in the world competitiveness index as outlined in the National Madani Economy Framework," he said.
A total of RM50 million has been allocated – including subsidies – for the pilot project that will be implemented for a year.
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