LABOUR COST IN MALAYSIA 2016 Final Report - National Labour Cost Survey 2016 (F | Page 33

3.3.1 Basic Wage
At the national level, Malaysian employees had an average monthly basic wage of RM3,100 and
a median wage of RM2,000 due to a large pool of employees with lower wages. 53% of all full-
time Malaysian employees earned less than RM2,000 in basic wage per month (see Table 3-2).
Full-time employees in the skilled job categories earned an average basic monthly wage of
between RM3,000 – RM8,400, while those in the financial and ICT industries had the highest
basic monthly wage. Across the regions, full-time employees in the Central region earned the
highest basic wage (33% more than the national average), while those in East Malaysia earned
about 28% lower than the national average.
Among the non-Malaysian employees, the average wage per month for expatriates / PR was
RM13,000. 75% of these employees were in the managerial and professional job categories, and
their average basic wages were notably higher than the wages for Malaysian employees.
Meanwhile, foreign workers earned an average basic wage of RM1,100 per month. Their wages
across all job categories were considerably consistent within the range of RM1,000 to RM1,800,
except for managerial category (which is represented by only a minimal number of employees).
Figure 3-11: Average monthly basic wage per full-time employee
National Labour Cost Survey 2016: Final Report
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