Malaysia's median formal-sector wages rise, income gap remains wide

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Malaysia's median wages & income gap

Highlights

Malaysia's median formal-sector monthly wages rose 4.8% to RM3,000 in June, while employment increased 3.3% to 7.20 million.
The share of employees earning less than RM1,700 a month fell to 8.2% in June from 10.4% a year earlier, indicating a reduction in extreme wage inequality.
The income gap remains wide: the top 10% earn at least RM9,600 a month, more than five times the RM1,700 or less received by the bottom 10%.

This article was translated from the original. Read the original version by our correspondent here.

Wage and employment performance in the second quarter

As reported by The Edge Malaysia, citing the Department of Statistics Malaysia's Salaries & Wages Statistics Report (Formal Sector) for the Second Quarter of 2026, median monthly wages for formal-sector employees rose 4.8% to RM3,000 in June, while the number of formal-sector employees increased 3.3% to 7.20 million, up from 6.97 million a year earlier.

The department said the highest-paid 10% of formal-sector employees earned at least RM9,600 a month, while the lowest-paid 10% received RM1,700 or less. This means workers at the 90th percentile earned more than five times as much as those in the lowest-paid group.

The department also said the share of employees earning less than RM1,700 a month fell to 8.2% in June from 10.4% in the same month last year, a decline of 2.2 percentage points. Overall, the country's formal labor market remained stable and resilient in the second quarter, supported by growth in formal employment and higher median monthly wages.

Differences by state, sector and demographic group

Kuala Lumpur recorded the highest median monthly wages at RM4,245, followed by Selangor at RM3,245 and Penang at RM3,000. By contrast, Kelantan had the lowest median at RM1,827, followed by Perlis at RM1,864 and Sabah at RM2,045.

By economic activity, the mining and quarrying sector recorded the highest median monthly wages at RM6,722, although it accounted for just 0.5% of total formal-sector employment. The agriculture sector, which made up 1.8% of formal-sector employment, recorded the lowest median wages at RM2,282.

By gender, male employees, who accounted for 55.1% or 3.97 million of the formal workforce, received median wages of RM3,000. Female employees, who made up 44.9% or 3.23 million people, received slightly lower median wages of RM2,964.

By age group, employees aged 45 to 49 continued to earn the highest median wages throughout the second quarter, at RM4,000 in April and RM3,945 in both May and June. Meanwhile, the 50-to-54 age group recorded the largest year-on-year increase in median wages, while employees under 20 remained at median wages of RM1,700 from February 2025 onward.

In our previous coverage of quality investment criteria , we emphasized that the value of an investment should be assessed by the quality of the jobs it creates—including fair wages, safe workplaces and flexible working arrangements. We also discussed how these benchmarks matter for increasing women's participation in the workforce, at a time when their participation rate continues to face barriers such as inadequate childcare support.

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