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The services sector was cited as the largest contributor to the economy, comprising 62.2% of total hours worked in Q4 2023.
In tandem with the continued improvement in Malaysia's labour market for Q4 2023, the year-on-year growth in employment maintained its upward trend. This growth further extended to the number and rate of unemployment, which has nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels.
Using the number of jobs as a metric, the demand for labour by industry continued to expand year-on-year. This increase in jobs can be primarily attributed to a significant rise in the number of filled jobs, and a concurrent decrease in job vacancies for the quarter, the Department of Statistics (DOSM) noted.
With this, the number of Malaysian formal employees grew to reach 6.68mn persons in September 2023 (a 1.3% y-o-y increase). Consequently, this number accounted for 64.7% of total Malaysian paid employees in both private and public sectors.
Among various aspects that the report delved into, was a focus on total hours worked — which grew 2.3% to record 9.42bn hours in Q4 2023. This, DOSM said, was attributed to the increase in hours worked in all economic sectors.
Breaking the data down by sector, the services sector was cited as the largest contributor to the economy, comprising 62.2% of total hours worked in Q4 2023. This was followed by the manufacturing sector with a contribution of 17.8%, and the agriculture sector had a share of 10.7% in the quarter.
The remaining two sectors, namely construction and mining & quarrying, contributed 8.9% and 0.5% of the total hours worked, respectively.
Digging deeper, in terms of the total hours worked by economic activity, all sectors posted positive year-on-year growth in Q4 2023. In particular, the services sector which observed the most significant gain in total hours worked, with a rise of 2.6% (+148mn hours) compared to same quarters of the previous year.
This increase was primarily driven by food & beverages and accommodation, which recorded a growth of 10% year-on-year, followed by Ffinance & insurance with 9.8% and other services with 2.1%.
Meanwhile, total hours worked in the manufacturing sector improved further by 2.6%, with the highest increase recorded in beverages & tobacco products (9.1%), followed by vegetable and animal oils & fats and food processing (4.2%), and wood products, furniture, paper products & printing (3.7%) sub-sectors.
Median monthly wages rose by 5.5%
As of September 2023, the median monthly wages rose by 5.5% y-o-y to reach RM2,600.
By age group, formal employees aged 45 to 49 years recorded the highest median monthly wages in September 2023 at RM3,500. This category constituted 8.9% of total formal employees.
On the other end of the spectrum, those below 20 years registered the least outstanding median monthly wages at RM1,500. This trend is consistent with previous months, highlighting the wage distribution of formal employees by the age group, possibly related to the level of education and also work experience.
All in all, the median monthly wages for Malaysian formal employees in all age groups recorded a positive growth in September 2023, save for those aged below 20 years — this demographic remained the same as in the same month in the preceding year. Among these, formal employees aged 60 to 64 years posted the most significant increase of 9.1% y-o-y.
By economic activity, median monthly wages recorded positive growth for all sectors in September 2023 compared to the same month in the previous year,
The mining & quarrying sector continued to record the highest median monthly wages of RM5,200 in September 2023, despite only accounting for 0.5% of formal employees. In comparison to a year ago, the median monthly wages for the mining & quarrying sector went up by 16.5%.
This was followed by the construction sector at RM2,700 during the period, reflecting a 1.4% y-o-y increase.
As the primary contributor to the economy, formal employees in the services sector contributed more than 67.3%, equivalent to 4.50mn persons. This group recorded median monthly wages of RM2,600 in September 2023, with an increase of 4% compared to the same month of the preceding year.
Within the sub-sectors, finance & insurance recorded the highest median monthly wages at RM5,700, followed by information & communication at RM4,982. Conversely, the median monthly wages for other sub-sectors remained below RM3,000, with the lowest registered by formal employees in both the food & beverage and accommodation sub-sector (RM1,800). In terms of annual changes, Information & communication sub-sector posted the highest year-on-year growth in median monthly wages of 10.7% in September 2023.
Meanwhile, median monthly wages in the manufacturing sector rose by 8.1% y-o-y and recorded RM2,427 in September 2023. The beverage & tobacco products sub-sector recorded the highest median monthly wages, growing 11% during the month to reach RM3,089.
As of September 2023, the agriculture sector posted the lowest median monthly wages among all other sectors at RM1,982. That being said, the median monthly wages during the period reflect a significant increase of 6.3% compared to the same month in the previous year.
Lead image / Department of Statistics Malaysia
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