KUALA LUMPUR: The average Malaysian worker can expect a raise next year, but his spending power is expected to drop marginally.
A survey by global management consulting firm Korn Ferry showed that Malaysian employers are budgeting for the same level of salary increase of 5% for their employees for 2020.
However, after adjusting for an inflation rate of 1.5%, the real growth in wages will actually drop to 3.5%, compared with 3.6% last year.
Korn Ferry’s Asia-Pacific leader for rewards and benefits practice Mary Chua noted that there had been a lot of discussion on the issue of inflation not reflecting the rising cost of living.
“The government is already working on developing a new index that can provide a more accurate measure of the cost of living,” she said.
“The new index can be used alongside the inflation rate to shore up efforts in addressing the rising cost of living and the diminishing real wage increase,” she said. — Bernama
