Malaysia: New minimum wages order effective as of 1 May 2022

Published on 11 May 2022 | Reading time approx. 3 minutes

Increase of minimum wage as of 1 May 2022

We previously wrote about the amendments of the Minimum Wages Order 2020, and the announcement by the Prime Minister of Malaysia on the national minimum wage to be revised to RM1,500 per month. This has now been gazetted under the Minimum Wages Order 2022 (“Order”) on 27 April 2022. The increase of the minimum wage to RM1,500 will be effective as of 1 May 2022.

For employers with less than five (5) employees, there is a temporary exemption until 31 December 2022. However, this exemption does not apply to employers who carry out professional activities, regardless of the number of employees. The classification of professional activities is provided under the Malaysia Standard Classification of Occupations published by the Ministry of Human Resources.

The Order provides, for exempted employers, the existing minimum wage to continue to apply until 31 December 2022.

The Order also provides the minimum wage rates for employees paid on daily or hourly basis as follows:

Minimum Wage Rates
Monthly	Daily			Hourly
	Number of working days per week
	6	5	4
RM1,500.00	RM57.69	RM69.23	RM86.54	RM7.21

For an employee whose place of employment in Malaysia is in an area of the City Council or Municipal Council areas, the minimum wage rates from 1 May 2022 until 31 December 2022 are as follows:

Minimum Wage Rates in City Council and Municipal Council
Monthly	Daily			Hourly
	Number of working days per week
	6	5	4
RM1,200.00	RM46.15	RM55.38	RM69.23	RM5.77

For an employee whose place of employment in Malaysia is in an area other than the City Council or Municipal Council areas, the minimum wage rates from 1 May 2022 until 31 December 2022 are as follows:

Minimum Wage Rates in areas other than City Council and Municipal Council
Monthly	Daily			Hourly
	Number of working days per week
	6	5	4
RM1,100.00	RM42.31	RM50.77	RM63.47	RM5.29