As some of the criteria may overlap with each other, some countries may have some of these criteria whereas the rest may have others. It depends on their objectives. Malaysia, for instance, uses PLI per worker as an indicator for the cost of living above poverty level, and median wage as the firms’ ability to pay. The median wage reflects the wages earned by the bottom half of wage earners in the private sector. These two variables become the base criteria in formulating the minimum wages. Besides that, the ratesare adjusted with percentage change in labour productivity and consumer price index, and the
differences between the regional unemployment rate and the natural unemployment rate of 4%. The base criteria are averaged to represent the floor wage