Formal Sector Wages

There are just over 16 million workers in the Malaysian labour force, comprising employers, employees, self-employed workers (i.e. informal employees), and unpaid family workers. Because not everyone is formally employed, it is challenging to put together a complete picture of wages in Malaysia - such data is only available annually based on the year-long Wages and Salaries Survey. To assist policymakers who need to make decisions at higher speed, in 2023, we began reporting formal sector wages at quarterly frequency. This report is based on administrative data (from EPF, SOCSO, and DOSM), and covers just over 6 million employees (~60% of formal Malaysian employees). The key findings are summarised below.