Malaysian workers like their counterparts around the world celebrated Labour Day on May 1 recently. I was at a rally called by the Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) to hear the speeches of its leaders. The burning issues are the call for a national minimum wage of RM900 and also to protect migrant labour. The more than two thousand workers who gathered at this function cheered when their union leaders spoke on the need for a national minimum wage.

Surprisingly Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, whilst addressing a Labour Day rally in Kuala Lumpur recently said that the government would introduce a new economic model to ensure the country makes a 'quantum leap' to become a high-income country. He also stressed the need to move the economy forward from a high-middle income to high-income country.

Sadly, he did not state the duration he would take to make such a quantum leap. Being a person who has been involved with the labour movement for more than three decades, I am skeptical that such a quantum leap would ever materialise.

I can confidently state that when the nation reaches the year 2020, Malaysian workers, particularly in the manufacturing, retail, service, agriculture and other industries, would still be earning meager wages in comparison with the cost of living. Further, wages and salaries earned by workers would have lost their purchasing power and this would add to the misery.

A simple calculation would expose the true situation.

An unskilled production operator entering the job market at present is paid a minimum salary of about RM500 to RM600 per month at the premier industrial city of Shah Alam. Assuming the company where these workers work grants them a compounding annual salary increase of six percent, these workers would hardly earn RM1,200 in the year 2020, which is a meager amount even in these days.

A technician with a diploma has a start salary of RM1, 200 and would be earning about RM2,500 if given the same six percent compounding increase in salary. A new lawyer entering the job market gets started with a salary of between RM1,600 and RM1,800 per month. Their wage increases are based on market rates and they would perhaps earn about RM2,700 to RM3,000 per month in 2020.

An engineer starts with a salary of about RM2,000 and would end up earning about RM3,000 in 2020.

In most cases, wage increases are based on national inflation rates which are often kept low and therefore salary increases are rather nominal. Some employers use employees and company performance and productivity to determine wage increases. This system has its own flaws and does not contribute to a real wage increase.

In other cases, commissions are paid for job performance and job done. All of these are often to the advantage of the employers and workers are shortchanged in their quest to earn decent, real wages.

Given the scenario, I am skeptical that workers' wages would move into the higher-income bracket in the near future. Almost 70 percent of the Malaysian workforce are said to be in the low and middle-low income bracket.

New recruits has lowly starting wage and coupled with a subsistence wage increase will only make the economic situation of workers bleak.

For Malaysia to enter into the high-wage level, serious social engineering should be undertaken. For this, all the players need to be engaged and clear strategies should be developed. Merely making political rhetoric would not in any way contribute to uplifting the standard of living of workers and their communities.

Unlike other nations, Malaysia has set targets through its Vision 2020 to build our beloved nation into a developed country. How can the government achieve this target if it supports a low-wage regime? Will the government set the trend for the public sector so that the private sector will emulate the trend to improve wages?

Will the government continue to attract low-cost manufacturing and service sectors that are dependent on cheap labour which is largely foreign? Would the government control the influx of cheap migrant labour that has contributed to the decline in living and real wages?

Would the government introduce a national minimum wage so that in the remaining years before 2020, Malaysian workers would earn real wages, which is an important criteria to determine the status of a nation?

Let's hope that our PM's words materialise in the shortest possible time though I am skeptical as mentioned earlier. It would be a dream come true if Malaysian workers could earn real wages and not live on subsistence wages.