Guan Eng: HR Ministry will name cities involved in 2020 wage floor hike

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 14 — Cities where the minimum wage will rise to RM1,200 next year under Budget 2020 will be announced by the Human Resources Ministry, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said today.

Responding to a question during the Budget Forum 2020 dialogue session, Lim said the matter was under the purview of Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran.

“We prefer for this announcement to be made by the HR minister who is overseas at the moment.

“I cannot be the finance minister and minister of all ministries,” he replied to laughter from the audience here at St Regis Kuala Lumpur.

During the tabling of Budget 2020 last week, Lim announced that the minimum wage will rise to RM1,200 starting January but not nationwide.

When asked when the announcement will come, Lim said in due time.

Lim earlier stressed that the Pakatan Harapan government intended to honour its election manifesto promise of raising the minimum wage but must consider the effects of doing so.

“At the same time we are cognisant of the fact that the economy needs some breathing space, especially for employers in the rural areas.

“That’s why we have segmentised the  implementation of minimum wage in urban areas where wages are higher.

“We also hope that this will encourage more industries to move to the rural areas,” he told forum moderator Wong Sue Wan of Wong & Partners.

The uniformed minimum wages currently applied nationwide is stipulated at RM1,100 per month as of January 2019.

Pakatan Harapan previously pledged in its 2018 election manifesto to implement a minimum wage set at RM1,500 monthly.

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