Barjoyai Bardai of Malaysia University of Science and Technology said an initiative to hone skills in doing business could help churn out more entrepreneurs, especially among the youth.
Meanwhile, Ahmed Razman Abdul Latiff of Putra Business School said better skills could help individuals bump up their earnings.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim recently said that savings from the rationalisation of subsidies, to be channelled back to the people through initiatives such as Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah, would see low and middle-income households provided with financial assistance.
The diesel subsidy in Peninsular Malaysia was lifted on June 10, a move that Putrajaya said would save the government RM4 billion annually.
Barjoyai told FMT the average wage per capita for Malaysian workers had been hovering around US$11,000 (RM51,931) for a decade now.
He said the government should use the funds saved from the rationalisation exercise to organise more entrepreneurial programmes to help households increase their income.
Barjoyai said the 16.5 million people in the Malaysian workforce had yet to see a real salary increase in the last 10 years.
“It is the same for those in the micro, small and medium industries that account for 65% of the country’s workforce,” he said.
“Their income has remained static. The government needs to focus on entrepreneurship to increase household income.”
Barjoyai also said the country should sow the entrepreneurial spirit among the young and groom them to become creative, innovative and proactive.
He said Hong Kong took 10 to 15 years to become an entrepreneurial society.
“If we plan properly, it’s not impossible to achieve a similar goal,” he added.
Razman agreed that rather than just give cash, the government should introduce initiatives to raise household income.
He said an up-skilling and reskilling programme specifically for the heads of households could help them increase their earnings.
“In line with the effort to reduce hardcore poverty, there is a need to increase salaries for the heads of households. And this can be achieved by increasing their productivity, which can be done by improving their skills,” he told FMT.