Overview
Median
monthly wages of the formal sector rise to RM3,167 in December 2025
The
median monthly wage for formal employees were RM3,167 in December 2025, a 4.0
per cent increase from RM3,045 in December 2024. The number of Malaysian formal
employees continued to register a year-on-year increase that recorded a growth
of 3.6 per cent to 7.08 million persons in December 2025. Meanwhile, the median
monthly wage also recorded year-on-year increases of 4.3 per cent, 4.3 per cent
and 4.0 per cent in October, November and December 2025, respectively.
Male
formal employees comprised 55.1 per cent (3.90 million persons) of the total
formal employees in December 2025, received higher median monthly wage than
female formal employees. The median monthly wage of male formal employees stood
at RM3,167 while female formal employees who made up 44.9 per cent (3.18
million persons) of total formal employees earned median monthly wage of
RM3,120.
Formal
employees aged 45 to 49 years continued to register the highest median monthly
wages throughout the fourth quarter of 2025 (October 2025: RM3,827; November
2025: RM3,845; December 2025: RM4,245). All age groups experienced steady
year-on-year increases in median monthly wage. The highest growth was recorded
among employees aged below 20 years, with the median monthly wage reaching
RM1,700 in December 2025, an increase of 11.3 per cent compared with the same
period of the previous year.
All
sectors recorded an increases in median monthly wages across all three months
of the fourth quarter of 2025. The Mining & quarrying sector, which makes
up only 0.5 per cent of all formal employees, recorded the highest median
monthly wages at RM7,900 in December 2025. In contrast, the Agriculture sector,
representing 1.8 per cent of formal employees, reported the lowest median
monthly wages at RM2,564, showing a rise to 7.6 per cent year-on-year growth
during the same period.
Wilayah
Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur recorded the highest median monthly wage at RM4,391,
followed by Pulau Pinang (RM3,500) and Selangor (RM3,400) in December 2025.
Meanwhile, Kelantan, Perlis and Sabah recorded the lowest median monthly wages
during the same period with RM1,800, RM1,864 and RM2,045 respectively.
8.4
per cent of Malaysian’s formal employees earned monthly wages below RM1,700 in
December 2025, which was reduced by 12.5 percentage points as compared to
December 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 RM11,122 per month.
