Malaysia ranked 59th out of 67 countries in the minimum net salary ranking for January this year, which is RM1,323 per month, the same as last year.
According to Picodi Malaysia, the study in shopping is based on a comparison of the minimum wage with the increase in the price of basic groceries and the cost of living.
In his statement, the price of shopping items in January 2024 increased to 7.9% compared to January 2023.
A basket of basic food products needed to live life is as much as RM437.58 which is 33.1% of the minimum net salary of low-income Malaysians.
At the beginning of 2023, it recorded as much as 30.6% of the minimum wage. This shows that the increase in Malaysia's minimum wage does not keep pace with the increase in the price of goods in the market.
Meanwhile, the three countries that occupy the highest rung in the ranking of minimum monthly wage increases are Argentina which is 128.4% ($297). Turkey ranked second with 99.9% ($596) and Nigeria with 83.3% ($68).
Meanwhile, Indonesia recorded an increase of 7.1% ($187) and Thailand as much as 2.4% ($203).
In Picodi Malaysia's study, the ratio of the most comfortable grocery basket to the minimum wage is in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and New Zealand.
These countries can afford to spend less than one-tenth of their minimum wage on basic grocery needs.
There are also countries that use more than half of the minimum wage to buy basic goods such as Kazakhstan (54%), India (58.5%), Vietnam (65.6%) and Armenia (74.6%).
