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Enforcement of minimum wage policy in Malaysia, preliminary findings on the sentiments of micro, small and medium enterprises

After storming through decades of debate, on the eve of Labour Day 2012, the Prime Minister of Malaysia announced the floor wage of RM900 (equivalent to USD300) and RM800 (equivalent to USD267) per month for Peninsular and East Malaysia respectively. Many employees, especially unskilled workers w...

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Main Authors: Wee Yu Ghee, Mohd Rosli Mohamad, Noraani Mustapha, Sharan Kaur
Format: Non-Indexed Article
Published: 2013
Online Access:http://discol.umk.edu.my/id/eprint/7913/
http://www.savap.org.pk/journals/ARInt./Vol.4(6)/2013(4.6-39).pdf
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spelling my.umk.eprints.79132022-05-23T10:24:06Z http://discol.umk.edu.my/id/eprint/7913/ Enforcement of minimum wage policy in Malaysia, preliminary findings on the sentiments of micro, small and medium enterprises Wee Yu Ghee Mohd Rosli Mohamad Noraani Mustapha Sharan Kaur After storming through decades of debate, on the eve of Labour Day 2012, the Prime Minister of Malaysia announced the floor wage of RM900 (equivalent to USD300) and RM800 (equivalent to USD267) per month for Peninsular and East Malaysia respectively. Many employees, especially unskilled workers who live below the poverty line (earning less than USD250 per month) were overjoyed. However, such move has also invited concerns from various parties and even outraged small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which for see the increase in operational costs, unemployment and even possible close-downs. This paper seeks to gather the opinions from micro, small and medium enterprises in Malaysia over the new wage policy and determine if the decided rate is acceptable, and most significantly, will these SMEs comply starting 2013? Two sessions of focus group discussion involving 20 entrepreneurs were conducted. Although majority of the entrepreneurs agree that such intervention helps to alleviate poverty, many voiced concerns over detrimental effects in the long run which include rise in local unemployment, heavy reliance on foreign workers, hike in inflation rate, increase in operating and labour costs, and even issues of differential in minimum wage between Peninsular and East Malaysia, whereby the latter reports higher costs of living. Many countries have practiced minimum wage policy - some single minimum wage and others multiple, vary according to location, industry and sector and even performance-based. By collecting opinions from SMEs, this research aims to propose a win-win and feasible model of minimum wage enforcement that benefits both SMEs and workers at large. The findings from this research which structure the views and feedback accordingly by region, state, industry and sectors will be useful not only to all SMEs but also to the National Wage Consultative Council and the Ministry of Human Resources. 2013 Non-Indexed Article NonPeerReviewed Wee Yu Ghee and Mohd Rosli Mohamad and Noraani Mustapha and Sharan Kaur (2013) Enforcement of minimum wage policy in Malaysia, preliminary findings on the sentiments of micro, small and medium enterprises. Academic Research International, 4 (6). pp. 355-361. ISSN 2223-9553 http://www.savap.org.pk/journals/ARInt./Vol.4(6)/2013(4.6-39).pdf
institution Universiti Malaysia Kelantan
building Perpustakaan Universiti Malaysia Kelantan
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaysia Kelantan
content_source UMK Institutional Repository
url_provider http://umkeprints.umk.edu.my/
description After storming through decades of debate, on the eve of Labour Day 2012, the Prime Minister of Malaysia announced the floor wage of RM900 (equivalent to USD300) and RM800 (equivalent to USD267) per month for Peninsular and East Malaysia respectively. Many employees, especially unskilled workers who live below the poverty line (earning less than USD250 per month) were overjoyed. However, such move has also invited concerns from various parties and even outraged small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which for see the increase in operational costs, unemployment and even possible close-downs. This paper seeks to gather the opinions from micro, small and medium enterprises in Malaysia over the new wage policy and determine if the decided rate is acceptable, and most significantly, will these SMEs comply starting 2013? Two sessions of focus group discussion involving 20 entrepreneurs were conducted. Although majority of the entrepreneurs agree that such intervention helps to alleviate poverty, many voiced concerns over detrimental effects in the long run which include rise in local unemployment, heavy reliance on foreign workers, hike in inflation rate, increase in operating and labour costs, and even issues of differential in minimum wage between Peninsular and East Malaysia, whereby the latter reports higher costs of living. Many countries have practiced minimum wage policy - some single minimum wage and others multiple, vary according to location, industry and sector and even performance-based. By collecting opinions from SMEs, this research aims to propose a win-win and feasible model of minimum wage enforcement that benefits both SMEs and workers at large. The findings from this research which structure the views and feedback accordingly by region, state, industry and sectors will be useful not only to all SMEs but also to the National Wage Consultative Council and the Ministry of Human Resources.
format Non-Indexed Article
author Wee Yu Ghee
Mohd Rosli Mohamad
Noraani Mustapha
Sharan Kaur
spellingShingle Wee Yu Ghee
Mohd Rosli Mohamad
Noraani Mustapha
Sharan Kaur
Enforcement of minimum wage policy in Malaysia, preliminary findings on the sentiments of micro, small and medium enterprises
author_facet Wee Yu Ghee
Mohd Rosli Mohamad
Noraani Mustapha
Sharan Kaur
author_sort Wee Yu Ghee
title Enforcement of minimum wage policy in Malaysia, preliminary findings on the sentiments of micro, small and medium enterprises
title_short Enforcement of minimum wage policy in Malaysia, preliminary findings on the sentiments of micro, small and medium enterprises
title_full Enforcement of minimum wage policy in Malaysia, preliminary findings on the sentiments of micro, small and medium enterprises
title_fullStr Enforcement of minimum wage policy in Malaysia, preliminary findings on the sentiments of micro, small and medium enterprises
title_full_unstemmed Enforcement of minimum wage policy in Malaysia, preliminary findings on the sentiments of micro, small and medium enterprises
title_sort enforcement of minimum wage policy in malaysia, preliminary findings on the sentiments of micro, small and medium enterprises
publishDate 2013
url http://discol.umk.edu.my/id/eprint/7913/
http://www.savap.org.pk/journals/ARInt./Vol.4(6)/2013(4.6-39).pdf
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score 13.211869

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