The Department of Statistics Malaysia said the expansion of 8.0 percent in the sales value of the Manufacturing sector for March was mainly supported by the double-digit growth in Transport equipment & other manufacturers (14.6%) and Electrical & electronics products (12.7%) sub-sectors. In comparison with the preceding month, the sales value returned to record positive growth of 7.6 percent after registering a continuous decline since December 2022. DOSM in its latest report indicated Malaysia had generated RM156.2 billion in sales value for the sector.
The sales value of export-oriented industries which contributed more than two-thirds or 71.7 percent of total sales, rose 7.3 percent after registering 9.9 percent growth in February 2023. Similarly, the domestic-oriented industries posted steady growth of 9.9 percent (February 2023: 11.3%). As compared to February 2023, both export and domestic-oriented industries improved to 8.6 percent and 5.1 percent respectively.
There were 2.35 million persons engaged in the Manufacturing sector in March 2023 which increased by 2.8 percent as against 2.29 million persons registered a year ago. The increase it said was mainly supported by the Food, beverages & tobacco products (5.3%); Electrical & electronic products (4.2%); and Wood, furniture, paper products & printing (2.3%) sub-sectors. The number of persons engaged in these three sub-sectors encompasses more than half of the total in the Manufacturing sector. As compared to the preceding month, the number of employees grew slightly by 0.1 percent.
In line with the increase in the number of employees, the salaries & wages paid in the Manufacturing sector went up by 4.2 percent year-on-year which amounted to RM8.17 billion. In comparison with the previous month, the salaries & wages increased marginally by 0.1 percent from RM8.16 billion. In addition, the average monthly salaries & wages per employee posted an increase of 1.3 percent as compared to a year ago with a value of RM3,475 while the sales value per employee rose by 5.1 percent to a record RM66,430.
Summarising the performance for the first quarter of 2023, the sales value of the Manufacturing sector rose by 8.2 percent to register RM449.4 billion as against the same quarter in 2022. The growth was contributed by Electrical & electronics products (10.6%); Petroleum, chemical, rubber & plastics products (7.7%); and Food, beverages & tobacco products (6.0%) sub-sectors. The number of employees were added by 2.8 percent to record a total of 2.35 million persons with salaries & wages grew by 4.3 percent to RM24.5 billion. Furthermore, sales value per employee registered a growth of 5.3 percent, amounting to RM191,141.
