Median monthly wages for formal sector increased 4.9% to RM2,900 in Dec 2023

PUTRAJAYA: The median monthly wages for the formal sector increased 4.9 per cent year-on-year to RM2,900 in December 2023, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) reported in its Quarterly Employee Wages Statistics (Formal Sector) Report, Fourth Quarter 2023’s Summary, released on Friday (May 31).

Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin in a statement today said the number of Malaysian formal employees was 6.67 million persons in December 2023, an increase of 1.8 per cent as compared to the same month in the previous year.

“In terms of formal employees by sex, male formal employees accounted for 55.5 per cent of the total formal employees or equivalent to 3.70 million persons in December 2023.

“The median monthly wages for male formal employees stood at RM2,945 while female formal employees which comprised 44.5 per cent (2.97 million persons) of total formal employees received RM2,845,” he said.

Looking at detailed wage statistics by age group indicates the group that received the highest median monthly wages was for the age group of 45 to 49 years which is RM3,927 in December 2023.

This age group also received the highest median monthly wages in October 2023 (RM3,500) and November 2023 (RM3,500).

Meanwhile, the median monthly wages of Malaysian formal employees under 20 years old was RM1,500 in December 2023, which remained unchanged for 19 consecutive months.

Further disaggregation of wages situation by economic activity, the chief statistician said, in the fourth quarter of 2023, all sectors recorded a year-on-year increase in median monthly wages with mining and quarrying sector receiving the highest median monthly wages of RM6,844 in December 2023, despite only representing 0.6 per cent of total formal employees.

Mohd Uzir also said that the median monthly wages witnessed a positive year-on-year growth for all states in the last three months of 2023.

“Three states registered a higher median monthly wages compared to the national median monthly wages of RM2,900 with Kuala Lumpur recording the highest median monthly wages of RM4,045, followed by Penang at RM3,245 and Selangor at RM3,164.

“Meanwhile, Kelantan, Perlis and Sabah registered the lowest median monthly wages in December 2023, with RM1,600, RM1,700 and RM1,882 respectively,” he added. – BK