Enhancing Skills And Productivity Can Boost Income - PM Anwar

KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 (Bernama) -- Productivity improvements can be achieved through upskilling programmes such as Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), mastery of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, and the establishment of centres of excellence, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. 

This is to ensure that individuals achieve an increase in income along with improved productivity, he said during the Prime Minister's Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat today.

"Companies investing in Malaysia are required to establish centres of excellence. This includes Nvidia, Google, Microsoft, and Infineon.

"All of them are setting up centres of excellence for upskilling training, especially in AI. I acknowledge that AI is a challenging approach because, even though we have made this a clear policy, its mastery is still limited," he said.

Anwar was responding to a supplementary question from Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (MUDA-Muar), who asked about the government's plan not only to raise wages but also to improve worker productivity in order to achieve the status of a high-income country.

Anwar said that the government has firmly and courageously set the minimum wage at RM1,700, despite disagreement from some sections of the private sector, as well as introduced a Progressive Wage Policy for companies with good record, achievements, and high profits.

"I myself, along with other ministers, have met with companies, including plantation companies, that record profits and we believe they should be more equitable so that, for example, they record profits that are excessively high while their workers' wages are not proportionate.

"We have, for instance, a gap between productivity increases and wages. The increase in productivity is higher than the increase in wages, and with inflation, although it’s low, if wages do not rise, inflation will still affect them," he said.

-- BERNAMA