Answer for Written Question PT030

QUESTION

Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Laila Setia Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Abd. Rahman bin Haji Ibrahim

YANG BERHORMAT PEHIN ORANG KAYA LAILA SETIA DATO SERI SETIA AWANG HAJI ABD. RAHMAN BIN HAJI IBRAHIM requested the MENTERI DI JABATAN PERDANA MENTERI to state whether the ministry plans to conduct a study to identify the effects of implementing minimum wages for several specific service sectors on the cost of doing business and the cost of living, so that this would not burden customers or consumers.

ANSWER

Yang Berhormat Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri

In implementing minimum wages, the Government has comprehensively taken into account the implications for business operating costs, employers’ competitiveness and workers’ cost of living before any service sector or industry is considered for the implementation of minimum wages. Industries are selected carefully through muzakarah sessions with industry representatives and based on assessments of the industry’s cost structure, the level of market readiness and businesses’ ability to adapt without affecting the continuity of operations (business continuity).

Furthermore, the Jabatan Perdana Menteri (JPM), through the Pejabat Perancangan Tenaga Manusia (PPTM), conducted a survey of companies in industries subject to the Employment (Minimum Wage) Order, 2025, to assess the impact of implementing the order on their respective operations and business costs. Based on the initial findings, the implementation of this order was found not to have had a widespread effect on companies’ operating costs, with only a small proportion of respondents, namely 19 per cent, needing to make salary adjustments during the initial stage of the order’s implementation in order to comply with the prescribed minimum wage rate. Of the companies requiring adjustments, the majority were able to implement them through internal adaptations such as optimising operations and workforce management, without making major changes to their business capital.

The feedback received also indicated that the implementation of minimum wages had been welcomed by most industry stakeholders, with a positive level of acceptance and without significant challenges. The study is an initial step in examining the effects of implementing minimum wages.