Richard Marshall, senior economist in the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, called for a tailored approach to ensure fair income rates for gig workers.
“Policymakers may consider adopting a sectoral approach, given that Malaysia has included all sectors under the Gig Workers Act 2025.
“But this approach must still mirror a comparable minimum wage across the broader labour market,” he told FMT.
Marshall added that floor wages must be carefully designed to avoid distorting the labour market, where wages are generally determined by a change in marginal productivity.
He said the variable nature of gig work — involving task-based pay, irregular hours and waiting time — makes defining hourly rates and appropriate income benchmarks particularly challenging.
Marshall cautioned against setting rates so high that they interfere with market-based wage determination.
“It’s a question of balance. We need to ensure a level playing field,” he said.
On Tuesday, human resources minister R Ramanan announced that income rates for gig workers will be among the first issues taken up by the Gig Advisory Council, established under the Gig Workers Act 2025, which recently came into force.
He said the tripartite council, comprising representatives from the government, gig workers and contracting entities, began its term on April 1.
Rahman Hussin of transport think tank MY Mobility Vision called on the council not to limit its discussion to gross income figures without clarifying what those numbers mean in terms of actual take-home pay.
That, he said, could see the council “spending months negotiating a number that protects no one.”
“The council must define its terms before setting rates. It must determine whether income refers to gross platform earnings or net, post-deduction take-home income.
“Platform data on actual worker earnings — broken down by sector, time band and geography — must be available before any rate discussions can begin. Without this data, the council would be negotiating in the dark,” he said.
Rahman said a crude application of a minimum rate without accounting for underlying cost structures would create only the illusion of protection.
He said each sector faces unique challenges, and that workers across platforms face vastly different costs, schedules and income risks.
“An e-hailing driver in Kuala Lumpur, a childcare provider on a care economy platform and a freelance journalist all fall under purview of the Act, but their cost structures, working patterns and income vulnerabilities are entirely different,” he said.
“A single rate applied uniformly across all three is not policy precision. It is policy laziness dressed up as progress.”