Overview

INTRODUCTION

The COVID-19 pandemic was discovered as early as in November 2019, and then spread to many countries including Malaysia. The virus was first found in the country on 24th January 2020. Following further outbreak, the World Health Organization announced the disease as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.  

The Government implemented the Movement Control Order (MCO) whereby only essential activities were allowed to continue operating; while non-essential activities which comprised of major parts of the economic sectors such as Manufacturing and Education services were restricted. In addition, travelling was also limited.

The health crisis brought upon the containment measures whereby physical distancing and other standard operating procedures (SOP) became the new norm, even in businesses.

In terms of salaries and wages, some of businesses opted for unpaid leave or cut wages when their operations could not be conducted as usual. Besides, as the largest segment of employed persons in Malaysia was in semi-skilled category, most may had faced difficulty in continuing their works in a remote or digital form.

However, as the new norm set in, creative business models were adopted to mitigate the loses. Additionally, to cushion this impact, the Government rolled out several policies and initiatives, including the National Economic Recovery Plan (PENJANA), the Wage Subsidy Programme and several grant and financing programmes.  

MEDIAN AND MEAN MONTHLY SALARIES & WAGES OF EMPLOYEES

In 2020, the number of recipients of salaries & wages increased albeit at slower rate of 2.1 per cent to 9.4 million persons (2019: +5.0%; 9.2 million persons). [Exhibit 1].

During the same period, median monthly salaries & wages recorded a double-digit decrease of 15.6 per cent from RM2,442 to RM2,062. Likewise, the mean monthly salaries & wages also declined from RM3,224 to RM2,933 (-9.0%) within the same period.

Exhibit 1:

Framework on analysis of monthly salaries & wages, Malaysia, 2019 and 2020

MONTHLY SALARIES & WAGES OF EMPLOYEES BY SEX

The median and mean monthly salaries & wages for both male and female employees decreased in 2020 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation of the MCO in the country throughout 2020.

According to the findings of the survey, the median monthly salaries for male has consistently higher than female since 2010. In 2020, the monthly salaries & wages by male employees were RM2,093, fell 15.5 per cent as against RM2,477 in the previous year. Meanwhile, median value for female employees decreased 14.8 per cent to RM2,019 (2019: RM2,370).

The mean monthly salaries & wages for male employees in 2020 also fell by RM341 or negative 10.3 per cent to RM2,963 while for female employees fell by RM219 or negative 7.0 per cent to RM2,889 as compared to the previous year.

Exhibit 2:

Median and mean monthly salaries & wages of employees by sex,
Malaysia, 2015 - 2020

MONTHLY SALARIES & WAGES OF EMPLOYEES BY STRATA

In 2020, it showed that the median and mean monthly salaries & wages of employees in both urban and rural areas declined as compared to the previous year.

The median monthly salaries & wages of urban’s employees posted a double-digit negative growth with 11.6 per cent recorded RM2,268 (2019: RM2,565; 6.2%) while median value for employees in rural areas decreased by 14.1 per cent to RM1,340 as compared to RM1,560 in 2019.

Similarly, the mean monthly salaries & wages of urban and rural areas also declined in 2020. The mean monthly rate for urban lessening by 9.3 per cent to mark RM3,089(2019: RM3,405; 4.0%) while rural downed by 5.5 per cent to RM2,086 as against to the previous year (2019: RM2,208: 6.0%).

Exhibit 3:

Median and mean monthly salaries & wages of employees by strata,
Malaysia, 2015 - 2020

Detailed information regarding this report can be accessed through the eStatistik application in the Department of Statistics, Malaysia website, www.dosm.gov.my.

Released By:

DATO' SRI DR. MOHD UZIR MAHIDIN
CHIEF STATISTICIAN MALAYSIA
DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS, MALAYSIA
 DrUzir_Mahidin      Dr_Uzir

14 July 2021

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