Human resources minister M Saravanan said the minimum wage, which is an increase from RM1,200 currently, had received unanimous support from the Cabinet, which had been discussing it over the past three weeks.

He made the statement when pushed by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim (PH-Port Dickson) on the time frame of the minimum wage implementation.

Saravanan also said the government was studying which sectors could be given leeway to implement the minimum wage slightly later.

Any leeway, he said, would first be studied as the government did not want any announcements on an increase in the minimum wage to lead to a spike in unemployment, which had declined from 5.3% in 2020 to 4.2% presently.

Saravanan also said the ministry would be studying the sectors that would be exempted from the minimum wage increase.

“I don’t want employers to take advantage (of the increase) by downsizing their workforce by citing business losses.

“We are taking positive steps to identity the sectors that will be exempted, and we will announce (those sectors) in April,” he said.

On March 14, Saravanan had told the Dewan Rakyat the government would implement the new minimum wage earlier due to the country’s improving economic situation, although he had previously said it would be done by the end of the year.

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