KUALA LUMPUR – The median monthly wage for Malaysia's 7.06 million formal employees rose to RM2,864 in September 2025, marking a 4.3% increase from RM2,745 in the same period the previous year.
This data comes from the Third Quarter 2025 Employee Wages Statistics (Formal Sector) Report released today by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
The DOSM stated that the wage increase coincided with steady employment growth. The number of formal employees grew by 3.5% year-on-year during July, August, and September 2025, indicating ongoing resilience in the formal labour market through the third quarter of 2025, Bernama reported.
By gender, male employees, who comprised 55.1% (3.89 million) of the workforce, earned a higher median monthly wage of RM2,900. In comparison, female employees, who made up 44.9% (3.17 million), earned RM2,800.
In terms of age, employees aged 45 to 49 recorded the highest median wage, earning RM3,800 across all three months of the third quarter. The sharpest wage growth was observed among employees under the age of 20, with their median wage increasing by 13.3% year-on-year to reach RM1,700 in September 2025.
The DOSM noted that all economic sectors saw an increase in median wages during the quarter. Despite comprising just 0.6% of formal employment, the mining and quarrying sector continued to lead with the highest median wage at RM6,600, up by 11.9% compared to the previous year. In contrast, the agriculture sector, accounting for 1.8% of formal employees, recorded the lowest median wage at RM2,245.
Geographically, Kuala Lumpur recorded the highest median monthly wage at RM4,064, followed by Selangor at RM3,127 and Penang at RM2,927. The lowest median wages were found in Kelantan and Perlis at RM1,800, with Sabah and Kedah reporting RM2,000.
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin commented that 8.8% of formal employees earned less than RM1,700 per month in September 2025, a significant decrease of 13.5 percentage points from the previous year.
“Percentile analysis revealed that the bottom 10% of formal employees earned RM1,700 or less per month, while those in the 90th percentile earned at least RM9,000 per month,” he said.
“This disparity highlights the wage gap, with employees in the 90th percentile earning five times more than those in the lowest wage group,” he added. - January 27, 2026
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