Najib: Many Employees Still Being Paid Below Minimum Wage

KUALA LUMPUR, (Bernama) -- Many employees are still being paid below the minimun wage, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He said this was despite their employers registering huge profits and the minimum wage policy introduced last year.

He said this was travesty of both logic and justice.

"If we wish to become a more developed and more inclusive society, employee welfare must be prioritised. I ask all employers to commit to paying their workers a living wage," he said in his keynote address at the Invest Malaysia 2013, here, today.

Malaysia had introduced the Minimum Wage Policy in July last year, and employers were given until early this year to begin complying with the new regulation.

The minimum wage in Peninsular Malaysia was set at RM900 per month and in Sabah and Sarawak, at RM800.

"We must ensure that we are providing equitable employment conditions across the workforce," he said.

In advocating for gender equality in Malaysia's businesses, the prime minister said he encouraged all public-listed and government-linked companies to make full voluntary disclosure of female participation rates, from the board level down.

Najib also urged companies to use the incentives in the federal budget to offer childcare facilities at the workplace in order to enable female employees to balance their work and family commitments.

He said by using the incentives to offer childcare facilities, Malaysians would all have the same opportunity to progress in their careers.

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