Malaysia's Median Formal Wage Hits RM3,000, With Top Earners Above RM9,600

Wages rise, but gains remain uneven

Malaysia's median monthly wage for Malaysian employees in the formal sector rose 4.8 per cent from a year earlier to RM3,000 in June 2026, while the number of employees increased to 7.20 million. Yet the income divide remained wide: the highest paid tenth earned at least RM9,600 a month, while the lowest paid tenth received RM1,700 or less.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), in its Employee Wages Statistics (Formal Sector) Report for the Second Quarter of 2026, recorded growth in both employment and wages. Formal employment rose 3.3 per cent from 6.97 million in June 2025, adding about 230,000 employees.

RM3,000 is the median, meaning the middle point when employees are arranged by their monthly wages. Roughly half receive less and half receive more. It is different from an average, which adds everyone's wages together and divides the total by the number of employees.

June's improvement from a year earlier also came alongside a small decline from March, when the median was RM3,027. The figures show a labour market with more formal employees and annual wage growth, but with substantial differences between locations, industries and age groups.

How wide is the income divide?

DOSM's June figures put the wage threshold for the highest paid tenth at about 5.6 times the threshold for the lowest paid tenth: RM9,600 compared with RM1,700. These are the boundaries of the two groups, rather than the average earnings of everyone within them.

DOSM described the divide in its statement accompanying the second quarter figures:

"Therefore, employees in the 90th percentile earned more than five times the wages of those in the lowest-wage group, underscoring the gap in monthly wages between the highest and lowest earners," it said.

The 90th percentile is the point below which about 90 per cent of employees fall. In practical terms, a worker needed monthly wages of at least RM9,600 to enter the highest paid tenth in June.

March's corresponding threshold was higher, at RM11,500, while the bottom tenth also received RM1,700 or less. The ratio between those thresholds therefore fell from about 6.8 in March to 5.6 in June. The upper threshold moved down by RM1,900, while the lower threshold stayed unchanged.

Fewer employees earn below RM1,700

The share of Malaysian formal employees earning below RM1,700 fell to 8.2 per cent in June 2026 from 10.4 per cent in June 2025. That is a reduction of 2.2 percentage points, or roughly a fifth of the earlier share.

Applying those percentages to the reported employment totals gives an estimated 590,000 employees below RM1,700 in June 2026, compared with about 725,000 a year earlier. These are approximate calculations because DOSM's published percentages and employment totals are rounded.

March 2026 had recorded a smaller share below that level, at 7.9 per cent. June therefore showed improvement against the same month in 2025, but a rise of 0.3 percentage points from March.

The wording of the thresholds matters. The 8.2 per cent figure counts employees receiving strictly less than RM1,700. The bottom tenth figure includes employees receiving exactly RM1,700. A concentration of employees at that amount allows both figures to sit together.

June employment grows as wages ease from March

DOSM's first quarter report recorded 7.05 million Malaysian formal employees in March 2026, up 3.8 per cent from March 2025. June's total of 7.20 million was about 150,000 higher than March's.

The national median moved in the opposite direction over those three months, slipping RM27, or about 0.9 per cent, from RM3,027 to RM3,000. DOSM's wage measure includes bonuses, commissions and allowances alongside wages, so the monthly figure can change with the timing and composition of payments.

The main dates show how the employment and wage measures developed:

• February 2025: The median wage for employees younger than 20 reached RM1,700, where it remained through June 2026.
• June 2025: Formal employment stood at 6.97 million, with 10.4 per cent earning below RM1,700.
• March 2026: Employment reached 7.05 million and the monthly median was RM3,027.
• June 2026: Employment reached 7.20 million and the monthly median was RM3,000.
• 27 October 2026: DOSM updated its formal sector wages dashboard.

Kuala Lumpur leads a large geographical divide

Kuala Lumpur recorded the highest median monthly wage in June at RM4,245, followed by Selangor at RM3,245 and Penang at RM3,000. Penang matched the national median, while Kuala Lumpur stood RM1,245, or 41.5 per cent, above it.

Kelantan recorded the lowest median at RM1,827, followed by Perlis at RM1,864 and Sabah at RM2,045. The difference between Kuala Lumpur and Kelantan was RM2,418 a month, with the capital's median about 2.3 times Kelantan's.

All three leading locations recorded lower medians than in March. Kuala Lumpur fell from RM4,527, Selangor from RM3,445 and Penang from RM3,064. Kelantan remained at RM1,827, while Perlis rose slightly from RM1,855 and Sabah fell from RM2,082.

For someone considering a move, these figures provide a broad picture of earnings in each location. Nicholas Lam, managing director of Jobstreet by SEEK Malaysia, advised candidates to compare the responsibilities, experience and skills attached to individual offers, while also considering housing and transport costs in a new location.

Mining pays most, but employs a small share

Mining and quarrying recorded the highest median monthly wage among economic sectors in June, at RM6,722. Agriculture had the lowest at RM2,282. Mining's median was therefore about 2.9 times agriculture's.

The employment shares put those figures in perspective. Mining and quarrying accounted for only 0.5 per cent of formal employees, while agriculture accounted for 1.8 per cent. At June's employment total, those shares correspond to approximately 36,000 and 130,000 employees respectively.

Mining's median fell sharply from RM9,678 in March, a decrease of RM2,956, or about 30.5 per cent. Agriculture's median fell RM45 from RM2,327. DOSM's first quarter report had recorded annual wage growth of 5.8 per cent for agriculture in March.

The figures supplied no explanation for the size of mining's decline between March and June. Because this wage measure includes additional payments and covers a sector with a small employment share, readers need the monthly figures and employment weight together to understand its place in the national picture.

Age and gender reveal different patterns

Men accounted for 55.1 per cent of Malaysian formal employees in June, or 3.97 million people, and received a median monthly wage of RM3,000. Women accounted for 44.9 per cent, or 3.23 million employees, and received RM2,964.

The difference between the two medians was RM36, equivalent to 1.2 per cent of the male median. In March, men received RM3,064 and women RM3,000, a difference of RM64. Both medians declined by June, with the difference narrowing.

Employees aged 45 to 49 continued to record the highest median wages. Their monthly median was RM4,000 in April and RM3,945 in both May and June. During the first quarter, the same age group had received RM4,156 in January, RM4,145 in February and RM4,100 in March.

Employees aged 50 to 54 recorded the strongest annual growth in median wages in the second quarter, replacing those aged 55 to 59, who had led in March. Employees younger than 20 remained at RM1,700, unchanged since February 2025. Their June median was RM1,300 below the national figure.

Job advertisements tell a different part of the story

Jobstreet by SEEK Malaysia recorded a median advertised minimum salary of RM3,000 for vacancies in the second quarter of 2026, unchanged from the same period in 2025. Its figure matched DOSM's June median in ringgit terms, but measured something different.

Jobstreet tracks the minimum salary advertised for a vacancy. DOSM measures wages received by formal employees, including bonuses, commissions and allowances. An advertised minimum is the lower salary offered for a job opening, rather than Malaysia's statutory minimum wage.

Some categories of vacancies recorded substantial increases even though Jobstreet's national median stayed flat. Banking and financial services reached RM4,000, up 14.3 per cent from RM3,500. Information and communications technology reached RM5,000, up 11.1 per cent from RM4,500.

Both categories increased by RM500, but banking's percentage rise was larger because it started from a lower amount. ICT's advertised minimum median remained RM1,000 higher.

By location, Jobstreet recorded RM3,500 in Kuala Lumpur, RM2,100 in Sabah and RM2,000 for Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang combined. Lam said the geographical variation reflected differences in the jobs being advertised. He urged employers to state salary ranges, skills and responsibilities clearly, and to support competitive pay with training and career development.

Who the official figures cover

DOSM began publishing quarterly formal sector wage statistics in 2023 to give policymakers more frequent information than the annual Salaries and Wages Survey. Its formal wages dashboard says the series draws on administrative records from the Employees Provident Fund, the Social Security Organisation and DOSM.

The dashboard's explanatory text describes coverage of approximately six million employees, or about 60 per cent of Malaysia's formal employees. The second quarter release gives a June 2026 count of 7.20 million Malaysian formal employees. The dashboard's approximate coverage description and the release's dated employee total are presented at different levels of precision; no updated coverage percentage accompanies the June figure.

Malaysia's labour force exceeds 16 million people and includes employers, people working for themselves and unpaid family workers, as well as employees. The RM3,000 median therefore describes the Malaysian formal employees covered by this series, rather than the earnings of everyone who works.

DOSM assessed the formal labour market as stable and resilient in the second quarter, supported by annual growth in employment and median wages. Its dashboard listed the next update for 31 January 2027 at noon, following the update on 27 October 2026.

Key Points

• Malaysia's median monthly formal wage rose 4.8 per cent from a year earlier to RM3,000 in June 2026.
• Formal employment reached 7.20 million, up from 6.97 million in June 2025.
• The highest paid tenth earned at least RM9,600, while the lowest paid tenth received RM1,700 or less.
• The share earning below RM1,700 fell to 8.2 per cent from 10.4 per cent a year earlier.
• Kuala Lumpur had the highest geographical median at RM4,245; Kelantan had the lowest at RM1,827.
• Jobstreet's median advertised minimum salary stayed at RM3,000, with increases in banking and ICT vacancies.
• DOSM's next dashboard update was scheduled for 31 January 2027.