PUCHONG, Sept 5 — Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman repeated his objection to a proposed increase to the retirement age, arguing today that this would be detrimental to youth employment and career progress.
He claimed such a move would reduce the number of new job openings and slow down the promotions of younger workers.
“It is about youths coming in with credibility and merit. There must be a balance,” Syed Saddiq said after touring the Impact Malaysia-U Mobile art mural initiative at Spacerubix Puchong.
Last week, the minister flatly rejected the proposal from the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) and was criticised by its secretary-general, J. Solomon, for failing to consider the plight of low-wage earners.
Today, the minister said proposing an increase to the retirement age was not the correct way to draw attention to the real issue of stagnant wages.
While he agreed that employers must be pushed towards improving pay levels, he said this would be a hollow victory if it resulted in less work for Malaysians.
“Even if salary levels are reasonable but job opportunities are unavailable, or the opportunity to be promoted up the ranks is not there, then it is pointless,” he said.
Syed Saddiq said both issues must be balanced against one another but argued that youths should be given greater priority as the group was frequently sidelined in such discussions.
