Wage Hikes Across Asia...

Singapore's low-income wage earners have seen their wages stagnate since the late 1990s. Their counterparts in the region, however, are getting better news. Wall Street journal reports Tuesday [link] that minimum wages are getting a boost throughout many countries in Asia.

China's Wage Hikes Ripple Across Asia

Wall street Journal | By JAMES HOOKWAY in Kuala Lumpur, PATRICK BARTA in Bangkok and DANA MATTIOLI in New York

More Asian governments are pressing businesses to hike wages as a way to prevent outbreaks of labor unrest, raising the specter of higher manufacturing costs for global companies—and the products they sell world-wide.

In the latest move, Malaysia's cabinet has approved the country's first-ever minimum wage to be imposed soon, according to people familiar with the matter. The decision follows similar moves elsewhere in the region, as officials from Thailand to Indonesia follow efforts by China over the past two years to boost pay after years of widening gaps between rich and poor.

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Beijing raised its minimum monthly wage by 8.6% to 1,260 yuan ($199) starting in January, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. The following month, the southern boomtown of Shenzhen raised its compulsory monthly wage by nearly 14% to 1,500 yuan. The northeastern port city of Tianjin will raise its minimum wage nearly 13% to 1,310 yuan starting in April, Xinhua said.

China's moves, in part, have helped spur other such changes in the region. Indonesian workers in some areas have secured minimum-wage increases of more than 20% in recent months.Thailand plans to introduce a higher minimum wage beginning in April that will push salaries up about 40% in many parts of the country. Labor advocates in Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh also are calling for higher wages.