Here is some news from The Edge:
- median monthly wage for M'sians rose 5.3% to RM2,940 in 2025
- the mean increased 4.1% to RM3,803
- KL Sept 21: 2025 nearly 2/3 Msia’s wage earners semi- and low-skilled
- median monthly wages RM2,223 or less
- according to Dept of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM)
- 55.6% of wage earners semi-skilled, median monthly wage RM2,223
- 7.8% of wage earners low-skilled, earned RM1,758
- Skilled workers earned median RM5,057
- 36.6% of total wage recipients skilled workers
- Low-skilled workers recorded weakest wage growth among the three groups
- their median pay rise 6.3% in 2025, 8.4% for semi-skilled, 8.1% for skilled
- wide wage gap across skill levels
- skilled workers earn three times as much as low-skilled
- Skilled occupations include managers, professionals, technicians, associate professionals.
- Semi-skilled cover clerical, service and sales, trades, agricultural and machine operator roles
- Low-skilled work mainly comprises elementary occupations
- managers highest paid, median monthly wage RM6,186 in 2025
- Professionals close behind at RM6,124.
- Overall, median monthly wage for Msians RM2,940 in 2025
- the mean increased 4.1% to RM3,803.
Wage growth was particularly strong in rural areas, where the median monthly wage jumped nearly 20% to RM2,035 in 2025 from RM1,698 a year earlier, marking the strongest annual increase since at least 2020. By comparison, the urban median rose 6% to RM3,022.
(OSTB: Wage growth was not strong in the rural areas. This is misleading. There was a more simple reason for the wage increase.
- Malaysia’s most recent Minimum-Wage increase was in 2025.
- Previous Minimum Wage: RM1,500/month.
- New Minimum Wage: RM1,700/month. Increase: RM200 or 13.3%
- Effective: 1 Feb 2025 with 5 or more workers and professional activities.
- Effective for all employers: 1 Aug 2025, including with fewer than 5 workers).
- Growth varied by qualification.
- Diploma holders median wages rise 10.7% to RM3,779
- faster than degree holders
OSTB: Again misleading. Too many diploma holders were operating at Minimum Wages level. When MIN WAGE went up in Feb 2025, their wages also went up. In comparison, degree holders and urban workers who already were earning above MIN WAGES did not see much increment in wages.
There is also another vital piece of data that is missing. What is the racial breakdown? Chinese, Indian, Malay, Iban etc workers earn different wages across all categories. There are also differences across regions - Klang Valley versus outside Klang Valley, urban versus rural, west coast versis east coast, Semenanjung versus Sabah, Sarawak.
You absolutely MUST report these wage information according to racial and regional breakdown. O'wise it is really quite meaningless.
The economists have come up with other totally useless things like household income. What the hell is a household income?
Lets say you are husband and wife, single income family. Then your 27 year old son cannot earn enough to go and live on his own. So he is forced to live with his parents. But he earns say RM3,000 a month. You earn say RM5,000 a month. But now your 'household income' suddenly becomes RM3,000 + RM5,000 = RM8,000. Very good.
But the reality is your son cannot earn enough to start living on his own. These are quite meaningless and useless data.
The dunggus will say 'Increase the Minimum Wages to RM3,000 or RM5,000'. Why not just increase the Minimum Wages to RM10,000 per month? Problem solved isnt it, stupid politicians?
