wage

PUTRAJAYA — The median monthly wage for Malaysia’s formal sector rose 5.5 percent to RM3,000 in March 2025, up from RM2,844 a year earlier, according to the Employee Wages Statistics (Formal Sector) Report for the First Quarter of 2025, released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) today.

In a statement today, Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the increase reflects the country’s continued economic growth and the impact of the revised minimum wage policy, which has positively influenced the labour market.

As of March, he said the formal sector workforce stood at 6.8 million, comprising 55.1 percent men and 44.9 percent women.

The median wage for male employees remained at RM3,000, while female employees saw a 6.5 percent increase to RM2,982, compared to a 3.4 percent rise for men.

The highest year-on-year wage growth was recorded among workers under 20, with their median wage rising 13.3 percent to RM1,700, largely driven by the reimplementation of the minimum wage policy in February. However, a slight drop was observed in the number of workers aged 20 to 24.

He added that the mining and quarrying sector posted the highest median wage at RM8,800, although it accounted for just 0.6 percent of total formal employment. The agriculture sector remained the lowest, with a median wage of RM2,200.

Geographically, the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur recorded the highest median monthly wage at RM4,445 in March 2025, followed by Selangor at RM3,300.

At the other end of the spectrum, Sabah posted a median wage of RM2,000, while Kelantan and Perlis recorded the lowest at RM1,800.

Mohd Uzir said 27.4 percent of Malaysian formal sector workers earned below RM2,000 per month as of March, down 3.8 percentage points from 31.2 percent in the same month last year.

He added that a percentile analysis revealed workers in the bottom 10th percentile earned RM1,700 or less, while those in the top 10th percentile earned at least RM11,000 per month.

“This reflects an income gap where the top 10 percent earn six times more than the bottom 10 percent,” he said. — BERNAMA