10 Highest-Paying Sectors in Malaysia After the Pandemic

What are the highest-paying professions in Malaysia? Is it finance, with its huge bonuses? Or the professional sector, considering the high demand for lawyers, accountants, engineers, and architects?

You might be surprised by the answer. Using statistics from the Malaysian Department of Statistics, the following is a list of the highest-paying industries between 2015 and 2020 — with the final year impacted by the pandemic. Let's hope that 2022 is a year of recovery and stability.

 

1. Formal education

The education sector paid some of the highest wages in Malaysia, with monthly wages averaging around RM5,088. This includes pre-school, primary, secondary, higher, as well as general and vocational education services.

It also included people who work in support jobs such as counselling, educational consulting, student-exchange programmes, and testing evaluation.

Salaries increased at a 5% annual rate from 2015 to 2020, making it one of the fastest-growing industries in Malaysia during that timeline. Despite the pandemic, it was the third-largest employer, employing over 856,000 people in 2020.

 

2. Quarrying and mining sector

Despite claims that it is in decline, quarrying and mining paid the second-highest wages in this country. In an industry that focuses on natural resources like natural gas, petroleum, stone, metal ores, sand, and clay, a worker may earn RM5,064 per month.

Salaries increased at a 3.3% annual rate from 2015 to 2020, albeit at a slower rate than other industries such as arts, education, and social work. It employed only about 71,000 people in 2020, a far cry from its high of almost 100,000 workers in 2016.

 

3. Communication and information industry

This industry provided jobs such as:

• Motion picture, video, and television production, 

• Publishing, 

• Sound recording, 

• Music production, 

• Broadcasting and programming activities, 

• Telecommunications, 

• Computer programming, 

• Consultancy and other information services.

This sector provides an average monthly salary of RM4,310.

Like the mining sector, salaries climbed at a 3.1% yearly rate on average between 2015 and 2020. As of 2020, it employed over 186,000 workers, making it the sixth-largest industry when it comes to employment.

 

4. Financial services, insurance, and takaful

Each employee in this industry earned an average of RM4,221 per month while providing the public with financial, insurance, takaful, and pension-fund services.

Salaries increased steadily from 2015 to 2020, averaging 3.8% every year. In 2020, it was the tenth-largest employer by industry, employing around 327,000 people.

The education sector pays the highest average salary in Malaysia.
 

5. Public administration, defence, and social security

The long-held belief that government employees are paid pitiful wages is untrue. Government employees earned around RM4,146 per month to develop and interpret laws and regulations, as well as to administer government services.

Salaries climbed at a robust rate of 5.3% per year from 2015 until 2020, making working for the government much more appealing when fringe perks are considered.

In 2020, it was the fifth-largest industry, employing almost 724,000 people.

 

6. Health and social services

Employees in the health and social-work industries were paid around RM4,075 per month for their services in hospitals, rehabilitation centres, speciality medicine, mental hospital institutions, medical nursing homes, and other facilities that offer diagnoses and medical treatment.

Social work entails offering services such as counselling, welfare, and advice to the elderly, disabled, refugees, and other vulnerable groups.

Wages climbed the quickest of any industry, averaging roughly 6% each year from 2015 to 2020. It was the ninth-largest industry, with employment nearly tripling from 237,000 in 2010 to 432,000 in 2020.

 

7. Professional, scientific, and technical industry

The professional, scientific, and technological industry paid an average monthly wage of RM3,959 for occupations in:

• Legal and accounting, 

• Architecture and engineering,

• Management consulting, 

• Advertising and market research,

• Scientific research and development, and 

• Veterinary and other activities.

Salaries increased slowly, averaging 3.5% per year from 2015 until  2020.

 

8. Power and air conditioning supply industry

Technicians who provide, distribute, and operate gas, electricity, steam, and air conditioning were paid an average of RM3,595.

It is a riskier job compared to other sectors, and earnings increased at a 4.6% annual rate from 2015 to 2020. Two years ago, the number of employees was also among the lowest, at around 66,000 workers.

 

9. Real estate sector

The days of real estate being the hottest industry in the country are long gone. Real estate workers, such as lessors, agents, and brokers who sell, acquire, rent, manage, and appraise property, make just approximately RM3,570 per month.

It is the only industry where salaries fell from RM3,855 per month in 2015 to RM3,570 five years later, owing in part to the onset of Covid-19 in 2020.

The previous year, the real estate industry had the second-highest compensation at RM5,775 per year, after quarrying and mining.

 

10. Arts, entertainment, and recreation sector

After the health and social work sector, the arts, entertainment, and recreation sector was the second-fastest-growing business in income growth, with 5.9% average growth from 2015 to 2020 before being severely impacted by the pandemic.

Those working in creative arts and entertainment, libraries, archives, museums, sports, amusement, and recreational activities earned an average monthly salary of RM2,665.

 

Source: Free Malaysia Today