Overview

National Median Monthly Wage of Formal Employees Rose to RM2,864 in September 2025

The median monthly wage of 7.06 million formal sector employees stood at RM2,864 in September 2025, an increased of 4.3 percent year-on-year (September 2024: RM2,745).

Male formal employees comprised 55.1 per cent (3.89 million persons) of the total formal employees in September 2025, received higher median monthly wages than females. The median monthly wage for male formal employees recorded at RM 2,900 while female formal employees who made up 44.9 per cent (3.17 million persons) of total formal employees received RM2,800.

Formal employees aged 45 to 49 years continued to record the highest median monthly wages throughout the third quarter of 2025 (September 2025: RM3,800; August 2025: RM3,800; July 2025: RM3,800). All age groups experienced consistent year-on-year increases in median monthly wages. The highest growth was recorded among employees aged below 20 years, with the median monthly wage reaching RM1,700 in September 2025, an increase of 13.3 per cent compared with the same period of the previous year.

All sectors recorded increases in median monthly wages across all three months of the third quarter of 2025. Despite contributing 0.6 per cent of formal sector employment, the Mining & Quarrying sector continued to record the highest median monthly wage at RM6,600 in September 2025, representing an 11.9 per cent year-on-year increase. Meanwhile, the Agriculture sector, accounting for 1.8 per cent of formal employees, recorded the lowest median monthly wage at RM2,245.

Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur recorded the highest median monthly wage at RM4,064, followed by Selangor at RM3,127 and Pulau Pinang at RM2,927. Meanwhile, the lowest median monthly wages were recorded in Kelantan and Perlis at RM1,800, as well as Sabah and Kedah at RM2,000 during the same period.

8.8 per cent of Malaysian’s formal employees earned monthly wages below RM1,700 in September 2025, which was reduced by 13.5 percentage points as compared to September 2024. Furthermore, percentile analysis revealed that the bottom
10 per cent of Malaysian formal employees received monthly wages of RM1,700 or less, while employees in the 90th percentile earned at least RM9,000 per month. This disparity illustrates that employees in the 90th percentile earned five times more than those in the lowest wage group, underscoring the prevailing wage gap between the highest and lowest earners.

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Baharudin Mohamad
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Email: baharudin[at]dosm.gov.my
Phone: 03 8090 4681

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