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The service industry is considered the largest contributor to the economy, accounting for 62.2% of total hours worked in the fourth quarter of 2023.
As the Malaysian labor market continues to improve in the fourth quarter of 2023, the annual growth rate of employment maintains an upward trend. This increase extends further to unemployment, which is almost back to pre-pandemic levels.
Measured by the number of employed people, the demand for labor in various industries continues to expand compared with the same period last year. The increase in positions is primarily attributable to a significant increase in the number of positions filled during the quarter and a concurrent decrease in vacancies.
At this point, the number of formal employees in Malaysia has increased to 6.68 million in September 2023 (an annual increase of 1.3%). This number therefore represents 64.7% of the total salaried employees in Malaysia’s private and public sectors.
As of September 2023, the median monthly salary increased by 5.5% from the same period last year to RM2,600.
By age group, permanent employees aged 45 to 49 had the highest median monthly salary in September 2023, at RM3,500. This category accounts for 8.9% of the total number of regular employees.
On the other hand, those under 20 years old have the lowest median monthly salary of RM1,500. This trend is consistent with previous months and highlights the salary distribution of permanent employees by age group, which may be related to education and work experience.
All in all, the median monthly salary of permanent Malaysian employees across all age groups recorded positive growth in September 2023, except for those aged under 20, with this group remaining unchanged from the same month last year. Among them, the most significant increase was among regular employees aged 60 to 64, with an annual increase of 9.1%.
Broken down by economic activity, the median monthly salary in all industries in September 2023 showed positive growth compared with the same month last year.
Despite accounting for only 0.5% of formal employees, the mining and quarrying industry continued to record the highest median monthly salary of RM5,200 in September 2023. Median monthly wages in the mining and quarrying industry increased by 16.5% compared with a year ago.
This was followed by the construction industry, which rose 1.4% to RM2,700 over the same period.
As the first contributor to the economy, the contribution rate of formal employees in the service industry exceeds 67.3%, equivalent to 4.5 million people. The median monthly salary of this group in September 2023 was RM2,600, an increase of 4% from the same month last year.
Among sub-sectors, finance and insurance had the highest median monthly salary at RM5,700, followed by information and communications at RM4,982. In contrast, the median monthly salary in other sub-sectors remains below RM3,000, with regular employees in the catering and accommodation sub-sector registering the minimum wage (RM1,800). From the perspective of annual changes, the information and communications sub-industry had the highest monthly median salary increase in September 2023 compared with the same period last year, at 10.7%.
Meanwhile, the median monthly salary in the manufacturing industry increased by 8.1% year-on-year in September 2023 to RM2,427. The beverages and tobacco products sub-sector had the highest median monthly salary, rising 11% in the month to RM3,089.
The agriculture sector has the lowest median monthly salary among all other sectors at RM1,982 as of September 2023. Despite this, the median monthly salary during the period increased significantly by 6.3% compared to the same month last year.
Salary distribution
The salary distribution for September 2023 shows that there are 2.31 million citizen regular employees earning a monthly salary of less than RM2,000. This group accounts for 34.6% of the total number of formal employees in Malaysia, a decrease of 3.5 percentage points from September 2022. This reflects the minimum wage increase implemented in May 2022.
During this period, only 8.7% of regular employees in Malaysia were paid less than the minimum wage of RM1,500. Meanwhile, about 3.6% of permanent employees in Malaysia earned a maximum monthly salary of RM15,000 or more in September 2023.
Based on percentile analysis, the 10th percentile of regular employees earns a monthly salary of RM1,500 or less. At the 90th percentile, the monthly salary of permanent employees in Malaysia increased by 5.1% year-on-year to RM8,200 per month.
At these points, the wage ratio between the highest wage earner group (90th percentile) and the lowest wage earner group (10th percentile) indicates that the monthly wage of the highest wage earner group is the lowest wage earner More than five times the size of the group.
Main photo/Department of Statistics Malaysia
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