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This increase reflects a stronger labour market and aligns with economic growth in Q1 2024, as the number of formal sector workers grew by 1.5% year-on-year, adding 97,300 new jobs.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia has revealed that in March 2024, the median monthly wages in Malaysia's formal sector rose by 9.4% to RM2,844, up from RM2,782 in February but lower than RM2,945 recorded in January 2024.
This increase reflects a stronger labour market and aligns with economic growth in the first quarter of 2024, as the number of formal sector workers grew by 1.5% year-on-year, adding 97,300 new jobs.
Below are the statistics broken down according to gender, age, sector, region, and wage distribution:
By gender:
- Men: Comprised 55.3% of employees (3.62mn persons) in March 2024, earning a median monthly wage of RM2,900. This median number, it was noted, was an 8.9% increase from what was recorded in March 2023 (RM2,664).
- Women: Comprised 44.7% of employees (2.92mn persons) in March 2024, earning a median monthly wage of RM2,800 —10% higher than in March 2023.
By age:
- Workers aged 45-49 had the highest median monthly wage of RM3,818, though this was lower than RM4,000 recorded in January. This age group also had the highest median monthly wages in January 2024 (RM4,000) and February 2024 (RM3,727).
- Employees aged 65 and above saw the highest year-on-year wage growth.
- While the above was so, those under 20 earned the lowest median wage since June 2022, at RM1,500.
By sector:
- The mining & quarrying sector saw the highest year-on-year wage growth of 12%, reaching RM8,400 in March 2024.
- Meanwhile, the agriculture sector, representing 1.9% of formal employees, had the lowest median monthly wage of RM2,000, a 5.3% year-on-year increase.
By region:
- Kuala Lumpur had the highest median monthly wage recorded (RM4,256), followed by Selangor with RM3,164. Both exceeded the national median monthly wage of RM2,844, DOSM stated.
- In the same period, however, Kelantan, Perlis, and Sabah had the lowest wages recorded, specifically RM1,645, RM1,682, and RM1,882, respectively.
Wage distribution:
- A total of 31.2% of formal employees in Malaysia earned below RM2,000 in March this year, down from 34.8% in March 2023, marking a 3.6% decrease.
- DOSM added that the wage ratio between the 90th and 10th percentiles indicates that the top 10% of wage earners received seven times the earnings of the lowest 10%. This is seen in the table below:
READ MORE: Advance GDP estimates in Malaysia expand by 5.8% in Q2 2024
Lead image / DOSM
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