KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 — Employers have been urged to implement new strategies to increase workers’ productivity and accelerate Malaysia’s development during the Eleventh Malaysia Plan (RMK-11) period (2016-2020).
Making the call, Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot said countries with high productivity levels share common characteristics that set them apart from the rest.
“These countries always emphasise skill development among their workforce as key factors towards better productivity.
“Businesses also maintain their competitive advantage by improving wages of their employees, and this is important because productivity level and job performance are correlated,” he told reporters after opening the ‘Malaysian Productivity-Linked Wages (PLWS) Conference’ here today.
PLWS is a system of wages or incentives that increases workers’ incomes while simultaneously increasing productivity and profits of employers.
In his opening speech, Riot said the system promotes wealth creation and sharing among employers and employees while contributing significantly to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“The number of employers adopting PLWS has increased to 78,545 from 59,6942 previously, augmenting productivity by 15 per cent. This is equivalent to a GDP contribution of RM115 million per year," he said.
Riot added the country’s productivity level still lags behind that of developed economies, mainly due to the low contribution of multi-factor productivity (MFP) to the economy. — Bernama
