Can the Progressive Wage Model Solve Malaysia’s Low-Income Problem?

If there’s one thing Malaysians can agree on is that wages in this country have been pretty abysmal. We have a shrinking middle class, 35% of working people in the formal sector earn below RM 2000 and the median wage is only RM 2600 – which means 50% of the country earns less than that.

One policy initiative brought about by the Minister of Economy, Rafizi Ramli is the Progressive Wage Model, which draws inspiration from a similar system in Singapore. The minister recently tabled the policy whitepaper in Parliament and we unpack that with Kevin Zhang of ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

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