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Free Malaysia Today
a day ago
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
Median monthly wage for formal sector hits RM3,000 in Q1 2025
As of March, the formal sector workforce stood at 6.8 million, comprising 55.1% men and 44.9% women. PUTRAJAYA : The median monthly wage for Malaysia's formal sector rose 5.5% to RM3,000 in March, up from RM2,844 a year earlier, according to the Employee Wages Statistics (Formal Sector) Report for the first quarter of 2025, released by the statistics department today. Chief statistician Uzir Mahidin said the increase reflected the country's continued economic growth and the impact of the revised minimum wage policy, which he said had positively influenced the labour market. In a statement, he said that as of March, the formal sector workforce stood at 6.8 million, comprising 55.1% men and 44.9% women. The median wage for male employees remained at RM3,000, while female employees saw a 6.5% increase to RM2,982. The highest year-on-year wage growth was recorded among workers under 20, whose median wage rose 13.3% to RM1,700, largely driven by the reimplementation of the minimum wage policy in February. However, a slight drop was observed in the number of workers aged 20 to 24. Uzir said the mining and quarrying sector posted the highest median wage at RM8,800, although it accounted for just 0.6% of total formal employment. The agriculture sector remained the lowest, with a median wage of RM2,200. Geographically, Kuala Lumpur recorded the highest median monthly wage at RM4,445 in March 2025, followed by Selangor at RM3,300. At the other end of the spectrum, Sabah posted a median wage of RM2,000, while Kelantan and Perlis recorded the lowest at RM1,800. Uzir said 27.4% of Malaysian formal sector workers earned below RM2,000 per month as of March, down 3.8 percentage points from 31.2% in the same month last year. He said a percentile analysis revealed that workers in the bottom 10th percentile earned RM1,700 or less, while those in the top 10th percentile earned at least RM11,000 per month. 'This reflects an income gap where the top 10% earn six times more than the bottom 10%,' he said.
Free Malaysia Today
04-07-2025
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
Sabah records more than RM100bil trade 3 years in a row
Chief statistician Uzir Mahidin said Sabah's exports in 2024 were led by crude petroleum with RM21.3 billion, palm oil with RM17.3 billion, and liquefied natural gas with RM4.6 billion. (AFP pic) PETALING JAYA : Sabah has once again surpassed the RM100 billion trade mark in 2024, marking the third consecutive year the state has achieved this milestone despite softer export figures. The statistics department said Sabah recorded RM107.8 billion in total trade last year, a 2.7% increase from 2023. However, exports slipped by 2.3% to RM61.3 billion for 2024, while imports jumped by 10.2% to RM46.4 billion. 'The higher growth in imports compared to exports resulted in a 27.9% decline in the trade balance, with a lower trade surplus of RM14.9 billion in 2024,' it said in a statement. Chief statistician Uzir Mahidin said the major commodities contributing to Sabah's exports in 2024 were crude petroleum with RM21.3 billion, palm oil (RM17.3 billion) and liquefied natural gas (RM4.6 billion), totalling RM43.2 billion or 70.4%. 'As for imports, the main contributors were refined petroleum products at RM5.2 billion, manufactured fertilisers (RM1 billion), and palm oil-based oleochemicals (RM266 million),' he said. While international exports from Sabah rose marginally by 0.9%, inter-regional exports to Peninsular Malaysia dropped by 7.2%, dragged down by a decline in shipments of crude petroleum, palm oil, and oleochemicals. Peninsular Malaysia remained Sabah's top trading partner, contributing nearly half (46.8%) of its total trade, while China, Thailand, South Korea, Japan and India collectively contributed 26.8% at the international level. The department also announced the annual external trade statistics for all states and federal territories, detailing each state's international trade values with other countries from 2019 to 2024. For Sabah, the international trade values used excluded trade between the state with Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak. 'For 2024, the total trade of Sabah based on these values recorded a 3.6% growth to RM43 billion from RM41.5 billion in 2023. This total trade was contributed by exports valued at RM32.1 billion and imports of RM10.9 billion. 'Sabah's exports increased by 3.2% to RM32.1 billion in 2024 compared to RM31.1 billion in 2023,' it said. Imports in 2024 amounted to RM10.9 billion, marking a 5% increase over the previous year. The mentioned values differ from the report published on June 16 following updates made based on the latest data. Last week, Sabah's industrial development minister Phoong Jin Zhe, said the state's 'unusually high' trade figure for 2023 was likely driven by a single transaction and does not reflect the state's actual economic performance.
Free Malaysia Today
24-06-2025
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
Inflation drops to 1.2% in May, lowest in 51 months
The food and beverages group, which accounts for 29.8% of the total consumer price index, increased more slowly at 2.1% in May compared with 2.3% the preceding month. PETALING JAYA : Malaysia's inflation rate slowed to 1.2% in May, its lowest rate in 51 months according to the statistics department. The department said this followed the decline in global oil prices and was in line with developments in South Korea, Indonesia, and the Philippines. It said the food and beverages group, which accounts for 29.8% of the total consumer price index (CPI), increased more slowly at 2.1% in May compared with 2.3% the preceding month. Chief Statistician Uzir Mahidin said 11 states recorded inflation rates below the 1.2% rate in May, with Kelantan the lowest at 0.3%, while every state saw an increase in the inflation of food and beverages. Nonetheless, five states recorded increases above the national level, namely Johor (1.8%), Negeri Sembilan (1.6%), Selangor (1.5%), Melaka (1.5%), and Kuala Lumpur (1.4%). Other groups that recorded declines included personal care (0.4% decrease), education (0.1%), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (0.3%), recreation (0.4%), and alcoholic beverages and tobacco (0.2%). There were no changes to the inflation rate for transport or insurance and financial services. 'Nevertheless, there are a few groups that recorded a higher increase compared with April, namely restaurant and accommodation services (0.1% increase), health (0.2%) and furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (0.1%),' he said. Uzir said that 342 out of 573 items, or 59.7%, recorded price increases. However, 330 of them registered an increase of 10% or less. 'Twelve items recorded increases of more than 10% in May. However, 180 items showed a decline and 51 items remained unchanged, and thus, to a certain extent, offset the inflation from increasing further,' he said.
Malaysiakini
11-06-2025
- Business
- Malaysiakini
Number of unemployed persons decreases in April, lowest in 10 years
Malaysia's unemployment rate drops from 3.1 percent in March to three percent in April, the lowest in 10 years, according to the Statistics of the Labour Force Malaysia for April 2025 released by the Statistics Department today. Chief statistician Uzir Mahidin stated that the number of unemployed persons decreased by 0.7 percent to 525,900 persons in April 2025, compared to 529,600 persons in March. 'A promising country's economic position...
Daily Express
11-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Express
Unemployment rate hits 10-year low at 3% in April
Published on: Wednesday, June 11, 2025 Published on: Wed, Jun 11, 2025 By: FMT Reporters Text Size: Chief statistician Uzir Mahidin said the labour force is expected to remain optimistic and expand in the coming months, bolstered by strong economic policies and stable domestic demand. (Bernama pic) PETALING JAYA: Malaysia's unemployment rate dropped from 3.1% in March to 3% in April, the lowest in 10 years, according to a report released by the statistics department today. Chief statistician Uzir Mahidin said the number of unemployed people decreased by 0.7% to 525,900 in April 2025, compared with 529,600 in March. Advertisement 'A promising national economic position has contributed to stable progress in Malaysia's labour force, with an increase in the number of employed people and higher labour force participation rates, while unemployment continues to decrease,' Bernama reported him as saying. Uzir said labour force numbers continued their upward trend in April, increasing by 0.2% to 17.34 million people compared with 17.31 million in March. 'Consequently, the labour force participation rate rose by 0.1 percentage points to 70.8% compared with 70.7% in March,' he said. In terms of the economic sector, Uzir said the services sector remains a key driver of employment growth, particularly in wholesale and retail trade, accommodation, food and beverage services, as well as transport and storage activities. He said positive trends were also recorded across the manufacturing, construction, agriculture and mining and quarrying sectors. Uzir said the unemployment rate for youths aged 15 to 24 years remained unchanged at 10.3% in April 2025, with 298.3 thousand unemployed youths. He said the number of people outside the labour force rose to 7.17 million in April compared with 7.16 million the previous month, mainly due to housework and family responsibilities, which accounted for 43.7%, followed by schooling and training reasons at 41.1%. He said the country's labour force was expected to remain optimistic and expand in the coming months, bolstered by strong economic policies and stable domestic demand. 'Despite global geopolitical tensions, Malaysia's labour force is expected to remain resilient due to stable unemployment, the growing services sector, and technology, as well as an increasing investment in digitalisation and automation,' he said. * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
