JobStreet: Average Wages Grew 3.2% YoY

According to JobStreet Malaysia’s Salary Report 2022, the employment market charted an average salary growth of 3.2% year-on-year (y-o-y), with education/training and accounting/finance specialisations having the highest salary growth rates.

However, due to Covid-19 and the resulting lockdowns, layoffs and digitisation uptake; several industries and specialisations saw decreases in salaries. They included F&B, hotels/restaurants, building/construction and sales & marketing.

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The report was based on data collected by JobStreet between Q1 to Q3 of 2021, against the same three quarters of 2020.

“This report serves to better prepare companies in understanding salary trends across different specialisations and position levels, enabling them to make more strategic decisions in acquiring and retaining talent,” said JobStreet Malaysia’s Managing Director Vic Sithasanan.

“With this report, hiring managers/HR professionals can now move more confidently into 2022 with the most in-depth salary insights across industries, specialisations and locations.”

Overall, 43.3% of new job listings in Malaysia saw increases in salary offered, while 18.9% remained unchanged.

The public sector saw the highest pay rise with 63% of new jobs posted seeing salary increases, followed by the education, consumer goods, and transportation industries at 46%.

In terms of specialisations, 48% of jobs involving education/training saw pay rises, followed by jobs in computer/IT and admin/HR with 46% of jobs in those specialisations seeing salary increases.

Meanwhile the top 3 specialisations with pay cuts were manufacturing, arts/media/communications and engineering.

Job applicants in the science & technology industry saw one of the top pay rises, with manager positions seeing a median y-o-y salary growth of 17.2%. Entry-level job posts in communications services and electrical/electronics industries also experienced a significant growth in median salaries, at 33.3% and 15.4% respectively.

Certain specialisations saw significant cuts to salary offered.

In sales and marketing, managers and senior managers experienced median salaries shrink by 11.4% and 52.5% respectively. Despite this, sales and marketing remained the specialisation with the most number of job ads posted for 2 consecutive years.

The highest-paid specialisation in Malaysia is computer/IT, with a median salary of RM6,000.

Workers in computer/IT can take comfort in the fact that they earn the most across all other specialisations and regardless of position level, except for senior managers who earn a median salary of RM17,000 as opposed to those in admin/HR who earn RM22,250.

With a median salary of RM6,000, the telecommunications industry is the highest-paying industry.

Meanwhile, the insurance industry experienced the highest median salary growth at 14.6% (RM700) in 2021.

However, workers in the F&B industry should be aware that their industry is the most at risk, with a 40% decrease in median salary. Meanwhile, of all the industries surveyed, the manufacturing industry saw the most number of job ads posted for 2 consecutive years.

To download a copy of the report, click here.

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