KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 — Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said today employers need to significantly reduce reliance on foreign workers and utilise technology, if they were to be able to afford paying the RM2,700 minimum wage recommended by Bank Negara Malaysia.
The second finance minister said 97 per cent of Malaysia’s business sector consists of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which would face difficulties in running their operations if made to pay the said amount.
He said that increasing the limit of minimum wage should therefore be done gradually in stages, adding that reducing the dependency on foreign workers can however help the process.
“Definitely. Definitely,” Johari replied, when asked if there is a need to reduce the number of foreign workers since they usually cost less.
“So if you want to make sure this country can afford a minimum wage of what Bank Negara has indicated, we need to slowly put attention into our automation, in all our businesses.
“You have to start using this artificial intelligence and so on, and cannot rely anymore on foreign workers,and all industries which rely heavily on foreign workers, we have to do away with this. Over time, we have to do away with this,” Johari added.
Johari was speaking to the press after attending the launching of MBSB Bank Berhad at the Hilton Hotel here.
When questioned on how the government is planing to address the issue, Johari said Putrajaya will impose more levy.
“At this moment, the levy is already considered high, so we will give them time, more time to go and manage this,” he said.
Last week, in its annual report, BNM estimated that the living wage for a single adult is RM2,700, couple without child RM4,500 and couple with two children RM6,500 in Kuala Lumpur.
The Edge Markets quoted BNM governor Tan Sri Muhammad Ibrahim saying that employers should take into account of living wage when rewarding employees.
The report a large chunk, at 81.5 per cent or four out of five jobs created in 2016, went to foreign workers even as graduate unemployment witnessed a sharp increase from 2011.
The minimum wage for West Malaysia was previously set at RM900 and with RM800 for East Malaysia and Labuan.
This was later revised in 2016 to RM1,000 and RM920 for West Malaysia and East Malaysia and Labuan respectively.
