Overview

The median monthly wages in June 2025 increased by 4.3 per cent from a year earlier.

The number of Malaysian formal employees also continued to show a year-on-year increase, recording a growth of 3.5 per cent (April 2025: 3.3%; May 2025: 3.5%) to 6.97 million persons in June 2025. Meanwhile, the median monthly wage also registered increases of 3.6 per cent, 5.4 per cent and 4.3 per cent in April, May, and June 2025, respectively.

Male formal employees comprised 55.1 per cent (3.84 million persons) of the total formal employees in June 2025, earned RM100 more than females in median monthly wages. The median monthly wage for male formal employees stood at RM2,900 while female formal employees who made up 44.9 per cent (3.13 million persons) of total formal employees earned median monthly wage of RM2,800.

All age groups experienced consistent year-on-year increments in median monthly wages. The highest growth was recorded by the age group below 20 years with a median monthly wage of RM1,700 in June 2025, an increase of 13.3 per cent compared to the previous year. During this period, formal employees aged 45 to 49 years earned the highest median monthly wages at RM3,800 in June 2025.

All sectors recorded an increase in median monthly wages across all three months of the second quarter of 2025. The Mining & quarrying sector, which makes up only 0.6 per cent of all formal employees, recorded the highest year-on-year growth of 10.2 per cent in its median monthly wages, reaching RM6,500 in June 2025. In contrast, the Agriculture sector, representing 1.9 per cent of formal employees, reported the lowest median monthly wages at RM2,200, showing a rise to 10.0 per cent year-on-year growth during the same period.

The median monthly wages across all states recorded positive year-on-year growth in the second quarter of 2025. Three states exceeded the national median monthly wage of RM2,864, with Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur registering the highest median monthly wage at RM4,064, followed by Selangor at RM3,145 and Pulau Pinang at RM2,927. Meanwhile, the lowest median monthly wages were recorded in Kelantan at RM1,764, followed by Perlis at RM1,800, as well as Sabah and Kedah at RM2,000, during the same period.

10.4 per cent of total Malaysian formal employees earned monthly wages below RM1,700 in June 2025, marking a reduction of 12.2 percentage points compared to June 2024. Furthermore, percentile analysis revealed that the bottom 10 per cent of Malaysian formal employees received monthly wage of RM1,664 or less, while employees in the 90th percentile earned at least RM9,200 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.

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Baharudin Mohamad
Public Relation Officer
Email: baharudin[at]dosm.gov.my
Phone: 03 8090 4681

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