As per the Salaries & Wages Survey conducted by the Department of Statistics, Malaysia (DOSM), median monthly salaries & wages increased to RM2,308 as compared to RM2,160 with a growth of 6.6 percent. Meanwhile, the mean monthly salaries & wages grew 7.0 percent to RM3,087 as compared to RM2,879 in 2017

As per the survey, the total number of paid employees in 2018 was 8.8 million as compared to 8.7 million in 2017.

Meanwhile, urban areas registered higher growth. In 2018, the growth rate for median monthly salaries & wages of employees in the urban area increased by 6.6% to RM2,415. Meanwhile, the median monthly salaries & wages for employees in the rural area grew 5.6%. The growth rates of mean monthly salaries & wages of employees in both urban and rural areas were 7.5 percent and 2.1 percent respectively.

Growth by education status

The survey also looked at how people with different levels of education saw growth in their salaries. Those with tertiary education took home the highest pay – a median monthly salary of RM3,648, an increase of 7% over 2017, and a mean monthly salary of RM 4,553, an increase of 5.3% over 2017.

Meanwhile, those with no formal education took home a median monthly salary of RM1,166, an increase of 5.8% over 2017, and a mean monthly salary of RM 1,481, an increase of 4.9% over 2017.

The Salaries & Wages Survey is conducted by the Department of Statistics, Malaysia every year through a household approach to collect information of monthly salaries & wages from the principal occupation of paid employees. The survey is carried out using probability sampling covering all states in Malaysia. In this survey, the paid employee is defined as a person who works for at least six hours a day or at least 20 days a month. 

The survey is in line with employment figures that came in earlier, pointing to the fact that the Malaysian economy continues to expand at a steady and promising pace, and the country’s main economic sectors are expected to record positive growth, with the service and manufacturing sectors projected to grow by 5.7% and 4.8% respectively. The increased focus of the government on job creation augurs well for the economy as well as for employee earnings in the future.