Focus on high-income nation status, says Najib citing decline in wages

 

Najib Razak says downward trend in workers’ monthly income began after GE14 and continued throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Najib Razak wants the government to put the country back on track towards achieving high-income nation status.

Citing data released by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), he said the average wage of employees in the manufacturing sector had dropped to RM3,275 a month, a decrease of RM600 or 20% compared with RM3,863 in December 2018.

According to the BNM report, the average wage includes bonuses, overtime pay and allowances.

Therefore, Najib added, the government must urgently address this issue while it seeks to also create new job opportunities.

He said this downward trend had been observed for the past three years.

“This downward trend began after the 14th general election and continued throughout the pandemic.

“This is why any government policy or action to create job opportunities must also focus on recovering the upward trend of Malaysians’ monthly income so that Malaysia can still achieve a high-income nation status in the future.

“We need to put more focus on the people and not only on cronies or company owners,” he said in a Facebook post. - FMT