PUTRAJAYA - The number of Malaysian citizens in formal employment rose 3.8 per cent year-on-year in March, while median monthly pay increased just 0.9 per cent.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia published its latest formal-sector wage report on July 29, 2026. It put the covered employee count at 7.048 million, up from 6.787 million in March 2025 - a net increase of about 261,000. The median monthly wage rose from RM3,000 to RM3,027 but was unchanged from February.
Year-on-year median-wage growth slowed to 0.9 per cent in March from 5.3 per cent in February and trailed headline inflation. Malaysia’s consumer prices increased 1.7 per cent from a year earlier, meaning median-wage growth lagged inflation by 0.8 percentage point.
The statistics cover Malaysian citizens in formal employment and are based on administrative records. The data draw on mandatory retirement-savings contributions for private-sector and non-pensionable public-sector employees, as well as social-security contribution records.
They exclude own-account workers, unpaid family workers and others in non-standard employment. Wages include bonuses, commissions and allowances paid during the reference period.
For broader labour-market context, DOSM’s separate Labour Force Survey estimated 1.98 million non-citizen employees and 10.78 million citizen employees in the first quarter of 2026 - roughly one non-citizen employee for every 5.4 citizen employees.
Services accounted for 4.81 million formal employees, or 68.3 per cent of the total, with a median monthly wage of RM3,064. Manufacturing had 1.23 million employees and a median wage of RM2,900, while construction had about 425,000 employees and a median of RM3,082. Mining and quarrying recorded the highest sector median at RM9,678 but represented only 0.5 per cent of covered employment.
The wage distribution remained wide. Some 7.9 per cent of formal employees earned below RM1,700 a month, down from 9.9 per cent a year earlier, while 12.2 per cent received RM10,000 or more. Employees at the 10th percentile earned RM1,700 a month or less, while those at the 90th percentile earned RM11,500 or more - a reported wage ratio of 6.8 times.
Among states and federal territories, Kuala Lumpur recorded the highest median wage at RM4,527, followed by Selangor at RM3,445 and Penang at RM3,064. They were the only three above the national median. Kelantan recorded the lowest median at RM1,827, followed by Perlis at RM1,855 and Sabah at RM2,082.
