PETALING JAYA: An economist has urged the government to “push hard” for the introduction of flexible work arrangements (FWA) to raise income levels in light of the rising cost of living.
Geoffrey Williams of the Malaysia University of Science and Technology pointed out that this would enable workers to earn additional income from multiple sources.
“People should not rely on a single employer or a single source of income but should have income from multiple jobs,” he told FMT Business.
Williams said if an employer could not offer good wages, then they should adjust the hours to free up some time for the workers to earn additional income elsewhere.
A four-day week, for example, would give people time to earn extra income from other sources.
He was commenting on a call by political activist Abdul Rahim Hilmi Zakariya for the government to ensure that Malaysians earned higher incomes so they could afford the higher prices of goods.
In a comment on Facebook, Rahim said this would help the people meet the high cost of living.
He was referring to a comment by economics affairs minister Rafizi Ramli that data on the department of statistics Malaysia’s OpenDOSM platform would enable consumers to make smarter choices.
The platform displays the prices of 28 million items from across the country.
Rafizi said the data would give people the opportunity to monitor the rise and fall of the price of each item. The government can similarly monitor prices at the macro level.
However, Rahim said the initiative is not likely to lead to lower prices of goods.
Barjoyai Bardai of Universiti Tun Abdul Razak said any move by the government to reduce the prices of goods is commendable, but it remains a short-term measure.
For the long term, he said, the government must look into ways to help the people increase their incomes to lessen their burden, and that should start now.
However, Barjoyai pointed out to FMT Business, it would be challenging to expect employers to give raises without an increase in productivity.
He also said Malaysia was still far behind nations like the US, Germany and Norway where employers share up to 60% of the revenue generated with employees. Malaysian employers share about 35% only, he said.
Barjoyai said Putrajaya should also start a social protection institution that can set up an endowment fund for initiatives like food stamps and aid for the homeless as well as those who have just lost their jobs.
This, he said, would ease the pressure on the government to make large allocations in its annual budget to help those in need.
On Jan 17, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that Malaysia’s national debt, including liabilities, had reached a crippling RM1.5 trillion.
The government’s major problem is that it spends more than it collects through its many sources of revenue. In the proposed 2023 budget tabled by the previous government, tax revenue was forecast at RM171.34 billion and operating expenditures at RM233.5 billion.
Source: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/highlight/2023/02/01/give-people-time-to-earn-extra-money-economist-urges-govt/