Johari Ghani: Some firms still pay TVET graduates like foreign workers despite minimum wage increase

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 2 — Some Malaysian firms remain reluctant to pay local vocational graduates decent wages, often offering them salaries equivalent to those of foreign workers despite recent increases to the national minimum wage, Parliament was told this morning.

Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said this reflected a broader unwillingness among businesses to move away from relying on cheap foreign labour as a core business model, even as policymakers introduce incentives and impose quotas to encourage companies to innovate.

“Unfortunately, some of these companies want to pay these TVET (technical and vocational education and training) graduates at the rate of foreign workers,” he said during Question Time.

“When we increased our minimum salary to RM1,700, it still wasn’t enough. Why? Because they pay those with TVET qualifications or these TVET students the same salary as foreign workers,” he added.

Malaysia has produced around 400,000 local TVET graduates in an effort to curb the nation's reliance on migrant labour, but many established domestic firms continue to offer starting salaries at the statutory minimum wage of RM1,700 a month, regardless of technical qualifications.

While migrant workers often receive employer-provided accommodation, Johari said local technicians with TVET qualifications are paid equivalent basic wages but have to cover their own rental expenses.

He acknowledged that poor policies were partly to blame.

“On top of that, they place them inside foreign worker housing areas, yet they have to pay rent outside of those accommodation areas,” he said.

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吉隆坡，11月2日讯——今天上午，国会获悉，尽管国家最低工资最近有所提高，但一些马来西亚公司仍然不愿向本地职业学校毕业生支付体面的工资，往往只提供与外籍工人同等的薪水。

投资、贸易和工业部长拿督斯里佐哈里·阿卜杜勒·加尼表示，这反映出企业普遍不愿意放弃依赖廉价外籍劳工作为核心商业模式，即使政策制定者出台激励措施并实施配额以鼓励企业创新。

“不幸的是，其中一些公司想按照外国工人的工资标准来支付这些职业技术教育与培训（TVET）毕业生的工资，”他在问答环节中说道。

“当我们把最低工资提高到1700令吉时，仍然不够。为什么？因为他们给那些拥有职业技术教育资格证书的人或者这些职业技术教育专业的学生支付的工资和外籍工人一样，”他补充道。

马来西亚已培养了约 40 万名本地职业技术教育与培训毕业生，以努力减少国家对移工的依赖，但许多成熟的国内企业仍然只提供每月 1700 令吉的法定最低工资，而不考虑技术资格。

Johari表示，虽然外来务工人员通常可以获得雇主提供的住宿，但拥有职业技术教育与培训资格的本地技术人员虽然能拿到同等的基本工资，却必须自己承担租金费用。

他承认，糟糕的政策是部分原因。

“更糟糕的是，他们把这些工人安置在外籍劳工宿舍区内，却要支付宿舍区外的租金，”他说。

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