Employers in Malaysia are among the most stingy people in all of Southeast Asia in terms of their employees' salaries when they only spend 25% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on salaries, reported the local newspaper Utusan Malaysia.
Compared to our regional neighbours, Malaysia contributes only 25% of GDP in terms of their employees' salaries, compared to Singapore at 40%, Indonesia at 84%, and 76% in the Philippines.
These figures contribute to the population sizes of the countries mentioned above-with Malaysia having 33 million people, Singapore having 5.6 million, Indonesia 273 million, and the Philippines 109 million people.
Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) president Datuk Abdul Halim Mansor considers such low payments from employers in the country unreasonable because companies in Malaysia have the ability to pay employees higher than the minimum wage of RM1,2000.
"They often say now is not the right time to raise the minimum wage to RM1,500 because of economic difficulties and Covid-19. This reason has become the standard, while the government has prioritized various types of assistance worth billions of ringgit.
"Employers should give society purchasing power, not give society the power to owe. Paying low wages opens up space for debt, and employees are forced to waste time working overtime.
"Imagine, Malaysian employers only spend 25% of GDP to pay the salaries of their employees, Malaysia has become the most stingy country in Southeast Asia," he told Utusan Malaysia.
If you dare, tag your employer in the comments section! Just kidding, don't do that!
