Overview
Formal sector employees earned a median monthly wage
of RM3,027 per month in March 2026.
Malaysia’s labour market remained resilient and
stable, supported by continued employment growth. In line with the development,
the number of Malaysian formal employees increase 3.8 per cent year-on-year to 7.05 million persons in March 2026
compared to the same month of previous year.
Male formal employees who accounted for 55.0 per cent
or 3.88 million persons of the total Malaysian formal employees received median
monthly wage of RM3,064 in March 2026, higher than female formal employees who
received RM3,000. Female formal employees represent 45.0 per cent or 3.17
million persons of the total Malaysian formal employees.
Wage statistics by age group showed that Malaysian
formal employees aged 45 to 49 years continued to record the highest median
monthly wage throughout the first quarter of 2026 (March 2026:RM4,100; February
2026: RM4,145; January 2026: RM4,156). All age groups recorded positive growth
in the median monthly wage except for the age group below 20 in March 2026. The
highest year-on-year growth was recorded among employees aged 55 to 59 years,
while the median monthly wage for employees aged below 20 years remained
unchanged at RM1,700 since February 2025.
By economic activity, the Mining & quarrying
sector, which accounted for only 0.5 per cent of all Malaysian formal
employees, recorded the highest median monthly wage at RM9,678 in March 2026.
In contrast, the Agriculture sector, representing 1.8 per cent of formal
employees, recorded the lowest median monthly wage at RM2,327, reflecting a
year-on-year increase of 5.8 per cent during the same period.
Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur recorded the highest
median monthly wage at RM4,527, followed by Selangor at RM3,445 and Pulau
Pinang at RM3,064. In contrast, Kelantan, Perlis and Sabah recorded the lowest
median monthly wage at RM1,827, RM1,855 and RM2,082 respectively.
7.9 per cent of Malaysian formal employees earned
monthly wage below RM1,700 in March 2026, which representing a decrease of 2.0
percentage points as compared to March 2025. Furthermore, percentile analysis
revealed that the bottom 10 per cent of Malaysian formal employees received
monthly wage of RM1,700 or less, while employees in the 90th percentile earned
at least RM11,500 per month. This disparity illustrates that employees in the
90th percentile earned more than six times than those in the lowest wage group,
underscoring the prevailing wage gap between the highest and lowest earners.
