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Salaries down 9% in 2020, biggest drop in a decade

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Take-home pay for unskilled and skilled workers and professionals fall as pandemic bites.

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Free Malaysia Today
The statistics department said wages in all sectors of the economy took a dip last year as the pandemic affected business.

PETALING JAYA:
The average monthly salaries and wages dropped by 9% in 2020, the first reported decline since the statistics department began its annual survey in 2010.

Chief statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin said they had decreased to an average of RM2,933, compared to RM3,224 in 2019.

He attributed the decline to the pandemic and its economic impact, which saw the labour market experiencing “uneven momentum” and limited business operation hours.

In a statement, Uzir said all economic sectors recorded a drop in mean monthly salaries and wages, namely agriculture (-20%), mining and quarrying (-17.7%) and construction (-10.4%).

He said the services and manufacturing sectors also recorded a fall of 9.4% and 2.8%, respectively.

The mean monthly salaries and wages for skilled employees was at RM4,619 in 2020, a drop from RM5,072 in the previous year.

Although managers, professionals and technicians received the highest average salaries, Uzir said the mean value received by managers had registered the highest contraction, from RM8,855 in 2019 to RM6,479 in 2020.

He also said the mean value in urban and rural areas had declined by 9.3% to RM3,089 and 5.5% to RM2,086, respectively. All states saw a decline in average wage and salaries compared to 2019.

“By state, the highest mean monthly salaries and wages was received by employees in Putrajaya (RM4,497).

“The other areas that also recorded mean value above the national level were Kuala Lumpur (RM3,823), Selangor (RM3,480), Negeri Sembilan (RM3,013) and Labuan (RM2,942).”

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