9th October 2026 - 3 min read
The minimum wage is going up from RM1,700 to RM2,000 a month, starting June 2027. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced the increase when he tabled Budget 2027 in the Dewan Rakyat on 9 October. More than 4 million workers will be covered by the new rate.
Not every worker will get it, though. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with yearly sales below RM50 million don’t have to pay the new rate. The government also plans a separate RM2,500 minimum wage for graduate and semi-skilled jobs.
For a worker on the minimum wage, the new rate means RM300 more a month before deductions, or RM3,600 more over a full year. That’s a 17.6% increase (our calculation).
Because the new rate starts in June, workers will get seven months of the higher pay in 2027. That’s RM2,100 more next year (our calculation). Your EPF and SOCSO deductions are based on your salary, so they’ll go up a little too, and your take-home pay will rise by slightly less than RM300.
SMEs with yearly sales below RM50 million are exempt from the new rate. Anwar said this gives them time to adjust how they run their business. It didn’t say how long the exemption will last. If your employer is exempt, the RM1,700 minimum wage still applies to you.
Many shops, restaurants, and small factories are SMEs, and you probably don’t know your employer’s yearly sales. We wrote about why small business workers may wait longer for the next minimum wage rise when the exemption was first proposed.
The government will also set a minimum wage of RM2,500 a month for semi-skilled jobs and jobs for graduates. Anwar called this a starting point. It didn’t say when it begins or which jobs count as semi-skilled.
Workers at government-linked companies (GLCs) and government-linked investment companies (GLICs) will see their living wage benchmark go up from RM3,100 to RM3,400 a month. This covers 230,000 workers. Prime Minister Anwar also asked private employers to raise their pay in the same way, but this is a request, not a law.
Two workers doing the same job in June 2027 could earn different minimum pay, RM2,000 at a larger company and RM1,700 at an exempt SME. That’s a RM300 difference every month.
Before June, ask your HR team or employer whether the new rate applies to you. The exact rules will be set out in a new Minimum Wages Order. If you’re not exempt and your employer pays you less than RM2,000 after June 2027, you can make a complaint to the Labour Department (Jabatan Tenaga Kerja).
As a creative content writer, Eloise has covered finance, business, lifestyle topics, and even moonlights as a singer-songwriter outside of RinggitPlus. Her current interests are learning the best ways to optimise spending and credit card hacks to gain more airline miles.
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