The domestic labour market maintained its positive momentum in 2025, with the mean monthly salaries and wages of Malaysian citizens increasing by 4.1% to RM3,803 from RM3,652 in the previous year, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
The median monthly salaries and wages rose at a faster pace of 5.3% to RM2,940, compared with RM2,793 in 2024, reflecting continued improvement in earnings among paid employees.
DOSM reported that the total number of monthly salaries and wages recipients increased to 12.01 million persons in 2025 from 11.96 million in 2024.
Malaysian citizens accounted for 10.38 million persons, representing 86.4% of all full-time paid employees.
The services sector continued to dominate Malaysia’s employment landscape, accounting for 71.5% of Malaysian citizen wage recipients.
The number of paid employees in the sector increased by 1.8% to 7.42 million persons, reinforcing its position as the country’s largest source of salaried employment.
In terms of earnings, mining and quarrying remained the highest-paying sector, with mean monthly salaries and wages of RM6,175.
This was followed by services at RM3,993, manufacturing at RM3,357, construction at RM3,188 and agriculture at RM2,575.
The figures highlight the continued differences in remuneration across economic sectors, with mining and quarrying employees earning considerably more than the national average.
By skill category, skilled employees accounted for 36.6% of total Malaysian citizen wage recipients and continued to command the highest earnings.
Their mean monthly salaries and wages increased to RM5,799 in 2025 from RM5,582 in 2024, representing growth of approximately 3.9%.
Semi-skilled employees, who accounted for the largest share of wage recipients at 55.6%, recorded a 4.2% increase in mean monthly earnings to RM2,714 from RM2,604 previously.
Meanwhile, low-skilled employees saw their mean monthly salaries and wages rise by 2.6% to RM2,184, compared with RM2,128 in 2024.
DOSM’s findings also showed that male employees continued to account for the majority of Malaysian citizen wage recipients.
The number of male wage recipients stood at 6.08 million persons, representing 58.6% of total Malaysian citizen paid employees.
Mean monthly salaries and wages for men increased by 4.3% to RM3,921 from RM3,759 in 2024.
For women, average monthly earnings rose by 3.9% to RM3,635, compared with RM3,499 in the preceding year.
This placed the difference in mean monthly earnings between male and female employees at RM286 in 2025, up from RM260 in 2024.
At the state level, Selangor accounted for the largest share of Malaysian citizen wage recipients at 25.6%, followed by Johor at 13.6% and Sarawak at 7.6%.
However, Putrajaya recorded the highest mean monthly salaries and wages in the country at RM5,417, followed by Kuala Lumpur at RM4,955 and Selangor at RM4,258.
Pulau Pinang recorded mean monthly earnings of RM3,912, while Labuan registered RM3,887.
These five states and federal territories were the only locations where mean monthly salaries and wages exceeded the national average of RM3,803.
