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In terms of wages, the median monthly wages for Malaysian formal employees saw a 5.6% increase in June 2024 compared to the same month in the previous year.
Malaysia's labour market continued to improve in the second quarter of 2024, aligning with better economic development for the period.
According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia, the labour force grew to 17.15mn persons, an increase from 16.96mn in the previous quarter. Similarly, the number of employed persons also experienced a growth, reaching 16.59mn from 16.40mn in the first quarter of 2024. Complementing this, the total number of people unemployed decreased to 557,800, down from 561,100 in the first quarter of 2024.
In line with the growing labour market, the number of formal employees in Malaysia also experienced growth in the second quarter of 2024, reaching a total of 6.73mn in June 2024.
- In April 2024, the number of formal employees was at 6.73mn
- In May 2024, the number of formal employees was at 6.72mn
In terms of wages, the median monthly wages for Malaysian formal employees stood at RM2,745 in June 2024, reflecting a 5.6% increase compared to the same month in the previous year.
- The median monthly wage for April 2024 was RM2,764
- The median monthly wage for May 2024 was RM2,700
Breaking this down, 55.3% of the total Malaysian formal employees were made up of male formal employees in In June 2024, totaling 3.72mn persons. For this group, the median monthly wages was recorded at RM2,782, following a year-on-year growth of 5.2 % compared to June 2023 (RM2,645).
On the other hand, 44.7% of the total Malaysian formal employees were female, at 3.01mn persons in June 2024. During the reference period, Malaysian female median monthly wages increased 6.8% to RM2,700.
Interestingly, the data shows that the median monthly wages for Malaysian male formal consistently grew higher than that of Malaysian female formal employees — as of June 2024, Malaysian male formal employees have a median monthly wage of 3% higher than Malaysian female formal employees.
In terms of age, the number of formal employees in Malaysia increased across all age groups as of the second quarter of 2024, with the exception of those below 20 and the 21 to 24 years age groups. Together, these two groups made up 12.9% of the total Malaysian formal employees, and experienced a decline of 1% in June 2024. On the other end of the spectrum, the age group of 60 to 64 years had the highest percentage increase in the number of formal employees. (June 2024: 5.9%).
Looking at median monthly wage, all age groups experienced steady increased year-on-year save for those below 20. The group that had the highest year-on-year growth was those aged 65 and above, while those below 20 remain unchanged at median monthly wages of RM1,500 since June 2022.
By economic activity, median monthly wages recorded positive growth across all economic sectors. Most notably, the mining and quarrying sector recorded the highest median monthly wages during the second quarter of 2024, reaching RM5,900 in June 2024. This sector also experienced the highest year-on-year growth in June 2024, at 13.5%.
With the largest number of formal employees, the services sector contributed 67.6% or equivalent to 4.55mn persons and recorded an increase in median monthly wages of 6.3% year-on-year to RM2,764 in June 2024. For an even more detailed breakdown of this sector, the finance and insurance sub-sector reported the highest median monthly wages in June 2024 at RM6,000, followed by information and communication at RM5,100.
Conversely, the food & beverages and accommodation sub-sector recorded the lowest median monthly wages at RM1,964, despite reporting the highest year-on-year growth of 9.1%.
Meanwhile, the manufacturing sector contributed 18% of the total formal employees, or equivalent to 1.21mn persons, and recorded a median monthly wage of RM2,582 in June 2024. This was a growth of 4.8% compared to the same month in the previous year. By sub-sector, the beverage and tobacco products sub-sector recorded the highest median monthly wages in June 2024 (RM3,164), while the lowest median monthly wages were in the textiles, wearing apparel and leather products sub-sector (RM2,064).
Lead image / DOSM
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