PUTRAJAYA: The median monthly wage of Malaysia's 7.06 million formal employees increased to RM2,864 in September 2025, up 4.3 per cent from RM2,745 a year earlier, according to the Third Quarter 2025 Employee Wages Statistics (Formal Sector) Report released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) on Tuesday (Jan 27).
DOSM in a statement today said the rise in wages was accompanied by steady employment growth, with the number of formal employees expanding 3.5 per cent year-on-year in July, August and September 2025, reflecting continued resilience in the formal labour market through the third quarter 2025.
By sex, male employees who made up 55.1 per cent or 3.89 million of total formal workers, earned a higher median monthly wage of RM2,900 compared with RM2,800 for female employees who accounted for 44.9 per cent or 3.17 million persons.
Wage data by age group showed employees aged 45 to 49 continued to record the highest median monthly wage at RM3,800 across all three months of the third quarter.
"The highest growth was recorded among employees aged below 20 years, with the median monthly wage reaching RM1,700 in September 2025, an increase of 13.3 per cent compared with the same period of the previous year,” the statement read.
According to DOSM, all economic sectors posted higher median wages during the quarter.
It said that although representing just 0.6 per cent of formal employment, the mining and quarrying sector continued to record the highest median monthly wage at RM6,600, up by 11.9 per cent year-on-year, while the Agriculture sector, comprising 1.8 per cent of citizen formal employees, recorded the lowest median wage at RM2,245.
By state, DOSM said Kuala Lumpur recorded the highest median monthly wage at RM4,064, followed by Selangor at RM3,127 and Penang at RM2,927, while the lowest medians were recorded in Kelantan and Perlis at RM1,800 and in Sabah and Kedah at RM2,000.
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin was quoted as saying that 8.8 per cent of formal employees earned below RM1,700 per month in September 2025, down by 13.5 percentage points from the previous year.
"Furthermore, percentile analysis revealed that the bottom 10 per cent of Malaysian formal employees received monthly wages of RM1,700 or less, while employees in the 90th percentile earned at least RM9,000 per month.
"This disparity illustrates that employees in the 90th percentile earned five times more than those in the lowest wage group, underscoring the prevailing wage gap between the highest and lowest earners," he said. - Bernama
