Malaysia to raise min wage to RM 2,000 in June'27

Malaysia will raise its monthly minimum wage from RM 1,700 to RM 2,000 for local and foreign workers from June 2027, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced on Friday.

He made the announcement while presenting the country’s 2027 budget in parliament, saying the increase is expected to benefit more than four million workers, according to local media.

Malaysia’s minimum wage regulations apply equally to foreign workers. Employees from Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia and other countries are entitled to the same statutory minimum basic wage as Malaysian workers.

Malaysia introduced its minimum wage policy in 2013, setting the monthly rate at RM900. It was raised to RM1,000 in 2016, RM1,100 in 2019, RM1,200 in 2020, RM1,500 in 2022 and RM1,700 in 2025. The latest increase will take the minimum wage to more than double its original rate.

Anwar said micro, small and medium-sized enterprises with annual turnover below RM50 million would be exempt from the new requirement. The exemption is intended to give smaller businesses time to adjust their business models.

He said the gap between workers’ productivity and wages needed to be narrowed, as incomes had failed to keep pace with rising living costs and inflation.