Overview

• The median monthly wage of the 6.8 million formal sector workers were RM3,000 in March 2025. This figure was 5.5 per cent higher than the RM2,844 recorded a year earlier, with formal employment numbers increasing by 3.1 per cent, 3.4 per cent and 3.6 per cent in January, February and March respectively.
• The increase in median monthly wages reflects a more favourable labour market landscape, supported by recent policy measures such as the upward revision of the minimum wage and the continued momentum of economic growth in the first quarter of 2025.
• The number of Malaysian male employees in the formal sector stood at 3.7 million persons in March 2025, accounting for 55.1 per cent of total formal employment, with a median monthly wage of RM3,000. In comparison, female formal employees comprised 44.9 per cent or 3.04 million persons, earning a median monthly wage of RM2,982. As compared to March last year, the median monthly wage for male and female formal employees increased by 3.4 per cent and 6.5 per cent, respectively.
• All age groups experienced wage increases, with the most substantial rise among employees below 20 years old, whose median wages surged by 13.3 per cent to RM1,700 in March 2025. The number of formal employees also grew across all age brackets, except the 20-24 age group.
• The Mining & Quarrying sector retained the highest median monthly wage at RM8,800 in March 2025, despite comprising only 0.6 per cent of total formal employment, marking a year-on-year rise of 4.8 per cent. On the other hand, the Agriculture sector, accounting for 1.9 per cent of formal employees, recorded the lowest median monthly wage of RM2,200.
• Geographically, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur topped median wage rankings at RM4,445, followed by Selangor at RM3,300. Meanwhile, Sabah (RM2,000), Kelantan (RM1,800), and Perlis (RM1,800) recorded the lowest medians nationwide.
• In terms of wages distribution, 27.4 per cent of Malaysian's formal employees earned below RM2,000 in March 2025, marking a decrease of 3.8 percentage points from the 31.2 per cent recorded in March 2024. Additionally, the percentile analysis shows that the 10th percentile of Malaysian formal employees earned wages of RM1,700 or less. However, this group registered an increase of 13.3 per cent in monthly wages as compared to the same month in the previous year (March 2024: RM1,500). Meanwhile, employees in the 90th percentile earned at least RM11,000 per month, reflecting a 4.8 per cent increase from March 2024. 

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Phone: 03 8090 4681

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