THE United Nations study on hardcore poverty in Malaysia must take into account several local factors in order for the findings to reflect the actual situation, said the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC).

Secretary-general J. Solomon said key factors indicating the actual situation are foreign workers, minimum wage, income per hour and a realistic reassessment of the consumer price index (CPI).

“The raw employment figures of the country are misleading, because they do not factor in underemployment and the depression of wage levels.

“Foreign workers should not be treated as separate to this review. They must be included so that the whole poverty and employment situation can be viewed in totality,” he said in a statement today, responding to the news report that the United Nations’ special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights will undertake a 10-day fact-finding mission to Malaysia later this month.

While welcoming the study, he said indicators such as income per hour may be a more accurate reflection of the situation, as any assessment should be confined to the standard hours of work for a worker and not factor in overtime pay or income received from a second job.

On a positive note, Solomon said the Pakatan Harapan government is departing from the approach of its predecessor Barisan Nasional concerning openness to scrutiny.

“An assessment of the CPI is also due, as to whether the basket of goods reflects the actual needs of consumers, by which we mean the common workers,” he said.

He also said that in the spirit of openness and transparency, an independent assessment is due and scrutiny on how the country measures hardcore poverty is appropriate.

He added that the MTUC would request that the mission extend its remit to cover an evaluation of extreme poverty and relative poverty, and the extent of the problems involving the working poor in the country.

“Measures used should be realistic and include the assessment of the minimum level of income to have a decent life in Malaysia,” he said.

He also said the MTUC would also like to nominate its own representative to be part of the mission, so that the real issues afflicting the common people are not lost under a statistical pile. – August 10, 2019.