Mean monthly salaries and wages have fallen by 9% in 2020 – the first-time decline since the Salaries & Wages Survey Report Malaysia was started in 2010, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).

“Median monthly salaries and wages recorded a double-digit decrease of 15.6% from RM2,442 to RM2,062,” said DOSM in its report. “Likewise, the mean monthly salaries and wages also declined from RM3,224 to RM2,933 (-9.0%) within the same period.”

The drop was attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic where some businesses opted for unpaid leave or wage cuts when their operations could not be conducted as usual. “As the largest segment of employed persons in Malaysia was in semi-skilled category, most may had faced difficulty in continuing their works in a remote or digital form,” the report revealed.

Mean monthly salaries & wages fell 9.0% in 2020, the first time decline since the series began in 2010.#StatsMalaysia#MyCensus2020#MenghitungMalaysia#DataAndaMasaDepanKita#PastikanAndaDibanci#ARC2021 pic.twitter.com/oqDq8SVcLl

— DOSM (@StatsMalaysia) July 14, 2021

Looking at the salaries and wages of employees by gender, both male and female employees saw a decrease in median and monthly salaries and wages in 2020 due to the pandemic. The median and mean of monthly salaries and wages also decreased in both urban and rural areas last year.

While the number of recipients of salaries and wages did increase in 2020 to 9.4 million persons, this was at a slower rate of 2.1% compared to 5% in 2019.

(Source: DOSM)

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• Covid-19
• Covid-19 Economy
• Department of Statistics Malaysia
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• Salaries & Wages Survey Report Malaysia