The minister of international trade and industry said RM3,000 is a “reasonable income” for someone in the Klang Valley and that it was a good income for regions such as the east coast and east Malaysia.
“You won’t be rich (with RM3,000) but you can survive,” said Mustapa.
Other criteria for high-income jobs include being value added, high technology and knowledge and skill intensive.
Mustapa, however, stressed that the definition was still evolving.
“We are using RM3,000 a month as a proxy for high-income jobs,” he said. “It is a work in progress and we hope for a more precise definition.”
The minister said investment projects approved in 2010 are expected to create a total of 97,319 jobs when fully implemented, of which 74.2 per cent or 72,221 will be in the high-income category such as managers and engineers in the solar, advanced electronics, aerospace and oil and gas industries.
Malaysia is hoping to become a high-income nation with per capita gross national income of US$15,000 by 2020 or about RM45,500 using the exchange rates at the time it was announced in August 2010.
The Economic Transformation Programme launched last year aims to create a further 3.3 million jobs “with a shift to medium and high-income salaries” through various projects in national key economic areas.
Inflation, however, has become a major concern with the rising cost of living eroding the purchasing power of Malaysian salaries.
The prospect of the removal of subsidies which could further spur price increases could further erode the earning power of Malaysians.
Malaysians currently enjoy subsidies in various essentials such as electricity, petrol, sugar and cooking oil.
