SHAH ALAM: The government will begin publishing salary statistics in Malaysia for every yearly quarter as a measure to tackle low salary payments, Economic Affairs Minister Rafizi Ramli said.

"We are ready for the first publication but I need to announce it to the Cabinet this week and hope it will be implemented after Hari Raya Haji," he said during the media conference of the Belanjawanku 2022/2023 app launch at EPF Tower today.

The move will help Malaysians and the economy by creating a focus on salary issues and be a good benchmark for the open work market, he said, adding that the entire country, including employers, need to make a collective decision so that it can look at and evaluate the government's focus on preparing comprehensive data infrastructure.

"Otherwise, we cannot make policies based on fact as we need information and that's what we're working on. We are confident that data infrastructure will be ready and then we talk about benchmarking.

"That is why are pushing for quarterly wage statistics, otherwise the policy formation can't catch up with the salaries changing and that is why you see the disparity goes bigger. Hopefully, we could do it on a monthly basis in the future," he said.

Rafizi also said that similar data would create a more dynamic work market, especially regarding salary issues in Malaysia.

On more progressive salary policies, he said that the government was still having discussions at the ministry level, including the Economic Ministry and the Human Resources Ministry to look at the policies' direction.

"According to the schedule, the first presentation of the progressive salary framework is in August and within these two months, discussions, and engagement sessions will happen and we will seek views from experts and economists," he said.

-- BERNAMA