KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 24 — Three states recorded median monthly salary exceeding the national rate of RM2,600 in the third quarter of 2023, said Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin.
He said Kuala Lumpur had the highest median monthly wage of RM3,800 followed by Selangor (RM2,900) and Penang (RM2,645).
“Kelantan, Perlis and Sabah had the lowest median monthly wage during the same period, with each recording RM1,600, RM1,627 and RM1,800 respectively,” he said.
He said this based on the Employee Wages Statistics (Formal Sector) Report for the Third Quarter of 2023 that was released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) today.
He also said that the overall number of local workers in the formal sector rose by 1.3 per cent to 6.68 million last September compared to the same month the previous year.
Of the total, he said 55.4 per cent or 3.7 million were men while 44.6 per cent or 2.98 million were women.
In terms of median monthly salary in the formal sector, he said there was a 5.8 per cent increase for men to RM2,645 while women received RM2,518, with positive growth across all sectors in the third quarter of 2023.
“Specifically, the mining and quarrying sector recorded the highest median monthly salary of RM5,200 in September 2023. This sector also recorded the highest year-on-year growth in September 2023 with 16.5 per cent.
“The agricultural sector, which covers 1.9 per cent of the total number of formal workers, recorded the lowest median monthly wage of RM1,982, up 6.3 per cent year-on-year in September 2023,” he said.
He said that in terms of wage distribution, 34.6 per cent of formal workers in Malaysia received salaries below RM2,000 in September 2023.
“This percentage marks a drop from the 38.1 per cent recorded the previous year. At the same time, almost 7.5 per cent of formal workers received monthly wages of RM10,000 and above in September 2023,” he said.
In terms of age group, Mohd Uzir said formal workers aged between 25 and 29 comprised one-fifth of all formal workers in September 2023, which is 19.9 per cent or 1.33 million people.
“The group comprising those aged 65 and above recorded the lowest number of formal workers with 0.1 million people or 1.5 per cent. The 45 to 49 age group received the highest median monthly wage in September 2023 at RM3,500. This age group also had the highest median monthly wage in July 2023 of RM3,482 and August 2023 of RM3,500.
“However, the group comprising those aged 20 and below received the lowest median monthly wage of RM1,500 in September 2023 to remain unchanged for three consecutive months throughout the third quarter of 2023,” he said.
Time series data and further information related to the labour market can be obtained from the Malaysia Labour Market Interactive Data (MyLMID) portal. For more information, visit https://mbls.dosm.gov.my/mylmid/.
— Bernama
