CABINET GIVES APPROVAL FOR MINIMUM WAGE POLICY

PETALING JAYA (Malaysia), Oct 20 (Bernama) -- The Cabinet has given the go-ahead
for the Human Resoures Ministry to implement the minimum wage policy through a
specially created council.

The bill for establishing the Natational Wage Consultation Council will be
tabled in the next session of Parliament, Minister S. Subramanaiam said Tuesday.

"The implementation (of the minimum wage) and all future decisions on it will be
done through the council based on the power which will be provided by the new
act, he told reporters after opening a conference and exhibition on human
capital development near here.

Prime Minister Najib Razak when tabling the Budget 2010 had said the council
would be the main platform for wage determination in the country.

He said the council would comprise representatives of employers, trade
unions, non-unionised employees, government agencies, academia,
non-governmental organisations and individuals.

Najib had said that the Human Resources Ministry would be the secretariat for
the council.

Earlier in his speech, Subramaniam said only 28 per cent of the 9.8 million
workforce in the country are employed in the higher skilled jobs.

He said the government aims to achieve 33 per cent highly skilled workers by
2015 and 50 per cent by 2020.

"Under the Economic Transformation Programme, about 3.3 million new jobs will be
created, of which 60 per cent will be of high skill category," he noted.