I just downloaded the latest salary report published by Kelly Services. Thanks Skorcareer for the download link.
The salary range published in this guide is basically a benchmark for job seekers. In fact, I personally find that the figures published are not impressive. As a Malaysian, paid in Malaysian Ringgit, we certainly have a hard time to maintain a medium lifestyle.
Click here to download Kelly Services’ Malaysia Salary Guide 2008/2009.

Are you paid within the range? or overpaid?
I would like to hear your thoughts.








{ 49 comments… read them below or add one }
Definitely underpaid. I'm working in a public listed company in KL. Big corporation, work load increases every year but increment 1-2%. Sigh…
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jobless and no pay, so which category is that ? i am NOT PAID, I guess Under Paid is Better right ?
Hmmm not bad. I always thought the min salary for engineer is 2000 RM
Now I am most positive! It says the min salary is 2500 RM
Hi, I'm Km from Money Mastery.
Thanks KC Lau for the salary report. I really agree that nowadays: for employees, the salary is no longer impressive. They're paid how much their job worth, but not how much they worth.
I believe nowadays, our education system is not sufficient to prepare us to survive in this world. I strongly urge everybody to re-educate themselves.
I just attended a seminar on 29th Sept held by Success Resources Sdn Bhd. in Penang. The speaker was Richard Tan.
He mentioned that nowadays it's no longer “Money makes Money”, it's “Idea make the Money”.
Money actualy is an idea, and idea comes from thinking. Therefore, making how much money is never a limit (by the job) if you have valuable ideas.
Since idea comes from thinking, and it's FREE to think, you might as well THINK BIG! Don't limit your income. You can easily earn RM10,000 ~ RM20,000 ~ …. up to RM1,000,000 every month if you've the correct attitude & mindset.
If any people would like to re-educate themselves in terms of financially & achieve financial freedom. I would like to invite you all to attend 3 hours “You Can Create Wealth” seminar held by MasteryAsia on 13 Oct @ Evergreen Laurel Hotel. 7.30pm-10.45pm.
The seminar is given by K.C. See, which is the founder of MasteryAsia & Quest group. He's also student of Robert Kiyosaki.
Those who are interested you can register with me at lee.khai.mun@gmail.com OR 017-4878170. Just give me your full name & contact no. I'll book the seats for you. You may bring your loved ones (which is a BIG ADVANTAGE) or friends to the seminar. I assure you, you'll get valuable ideas from the seminar.
One of the most valuable ideas from this seminar I learnt is How to create your own Money Making Machine instead of becoming a Money Making Maching for others…
Regards,
K.M. Lee
Regardless you are underpaid or overpaid, without proper financial planning you would properly turn back to pay by yourself. If you're looking for overload paid… think about self employee, make your own businesses, or do extra job like be an agent of any business kind. Evolute your imagination to reality departure. You can be difference.
hey how come engineer so low pay?
sigh~~~~~~
engineer very low pay oneif study other subject that only takes 3 years,
even lower pay
you see .. study doctor takes 5 years at least, so the highest pay among
professional.
I'm an enginner also. I completed 4 years course in local university 3 years ago. My salary still ok (but it is not enough for high inflation). I agree that enginner pay is lower compare with other profassional. Wondering why.
If you compare engineer to accountant, I think accountant's salary is
even worse. Of course, doctors is making the most money among
professionals.
Some turn to marketing.
Http://Kclau.com
yes, agree. doctors make the most money but if they open their own clinic the time is long too.
How about lawyer?
Most of the employees make the following mistakes.
1) First before you ask for the min. salary have you ever evaluate yourself whether are you an assest to the company or cost to the company. Top management always value and keep talented and highly productive staff. Normally, candidate with salary below market rate are those who can not perform in their job or a fresh trainee.
2) Try to put youself in an employer mind set, in Business we deal with number game. for example, If a candidate contribute 2k profit monthly, his can not expect his salary more than 2 k a month.
3) Create value in your job environment, build your bargaining power is one of the effective ways to demand high salary. In today job market, Posses the neccessary skills and qualification is not enough to ensure you can gain a highly salary. You need to create value to your organization, be an assest to your company and be a highly productive staff.
Francis, thanks for your elaboration of the correct employee’s mindset.
The simple rule of thumb as a high-performance employee is to do your boss’ jobs so that he can retire early.
I think doctor who operate their clinic will have more flexibility.
Those doctors in the hospital are basically 24 hour on call. If you
have critical patients during weekend, there is no off day. Doctor is
the most hardworking profession, at least that's what required from
them.
Lawyers nowaday require marketing skills too.
Http://Kclau.com
being an engineer before and now a corporate financier, i think it depends on what engineering branch u major from. Take oil and gas for example, especially chem eng. its very competitive. my friends are earning heaps in dubai with 2 years exp. if u did electronics eng and end up in manufacturing firms, it fits in the above schedule. Any entreprenuership is definitely better and u must have “an idea” so says Napolean Hill!
I agreed with Paul. It is not unusual to come across engineers in O&G who earn “heaps” per month, even in M’sia
. Anyway, I thought I saw a Lead Engineer (3-5yr) max salary is 15k, the highest figure in the report.
the exact profession that malaysian need the most nowadays would be Doctors , especialy specialists and general surgeons so it is not suprising that doctors are making the most money among all other professions in malaysia.
sadly we have malaysian doctors who serve in other countries like australia and singapore , neurologists , liver specialist as an example.
well if we have adequate numbers of specialists in malaysia we wouldnt have to go overbroad again for medications in times of need wouldnt we ? ( heaven forbid)
How about Procurement Salary? Doesnt listed in Kelly Salry Guide
wats de meaning of S/N or C in de region means?
JC, i think “S/N” means “Southern/Northern” region & “C” = Central region (of Peninsula Malaysia). So S/N = around Johor & Penang; C = Klang Valley.
Thanks for the clarification
i graduated in yr of 2000 awarded 3+0 BSc degree. after tat, working in engineering industry for 8 years, but salary less than (rm) 3K still. what ppls say? can any 1 tell me what happen in Malaysia eng. ind., i almost give up my eng. career, i can’t even support my parent’s medication fees now…
WHAT about FUTURE OF MY!!!
I have seen engineers who works 8 years in multinational companies getting five figure income.
thx for your info, KCLAU…but i found the truth say at press by Institution of Engineers Malaysia president Datuk Keizrul Abdullah.
FOR ALL ENGINEERS OF MALAYSIA to see this
pls check this out type on How undervalued are our engineers? says Keizrul on google search.
OR
http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:0vi-qrea2VAJ:www.asiaone.com/Business/Office/Hot%252BJobs/Story/A1Story20081214-107685.html+draw+a+comparatively+low+remuneration,+says+Keizrulcd=1hl=enct=clnkgl=myclient=firefox-a
those who work fr oil n gas company being paid higher salary. Fresh grads, e.g.: petronas-3.5k; mmhe-3k; shell/exxonmobil-3.8k. speacialist in this field being paid more than 15k/mth. not to mention welding engineer is paid 30k-40k++/mth!
I’m 6 yrs. experienced Sr. Analog IC Design Engineer have received an offer of RM10,000 per month by a company at Penang(Malaysia). I would like to know if this is competent enough in Malaysia market.
I am not sure about the “fair compensation”. But RM10k/month for a person with 6 years working experience is certainly above average in the engineering industry.
Hi,
I have been just offered a job in Malaysia, Penang. I am a software engineer with 5 yrs of experience. I would like to know the salary 6000RM offered to me. I would like to know whether this is competent enough in the malaysian market.
How about a basic salary of a lawyer for who has just passed the CLP
is lawyer better than pharmacy?which 1 makes the most money?
Whoever generate revenue makes more money than whoever dong supporting.
Lawyer in own business can generate more than Pharmacist working for others, vice versa.
Do you agree?
Definitely right.
i got 9 years of working experienced and i just got an offer in KL, working as Sr. Service Engineer, the offer of has 20,000RM / month with company’s car and house provided by the company. It is offer are competent in KL city?
In my opinion, that’s a good pay.
You are at the top 5% in term of earning in Malaysia! I believe most professional (perhaps except specialist doctor) earn much less that after 9 years of working life.
In Malaysia engineering industry are really able to earn high income. A friend of my with engineering background, earning 75,000RM/month. he is damn lucky got a good offer in oil and gas industry, working as manager position. Another 1 of my friend with engineering background too working in medical industry with 50,000RM/month.
what the big difference compare to my pay. i really need to try to search other job better offer like my friends.
75 grand a month is equivalent to 900,000 a year… let’s think of the rationale. If you are a highly paid professional, would you go out and blow your horn to let the whole world know how much you make? That just proved their immaturity, and you are buying that nonsense.
Greetings & G’Day,
Just curious, do we actually like to disclose our monthly total salary payout amout to friends or among co-colleagues??? Usually we only disclose it to our spouse or parents.
Some proud or arrogant friend/colleagues will joke / pulling your leg, by telling you that i’m earning this much but in reality/facts,we did not see his/her monthly salary slip / EPF statement before .. Perhaps, by adding yearly stocks options entitlement, director fees, benefits allowance ..etc will round out to the figure ?
Have a great day. Enjoy Learning. Thank you.
I know my people get more than that cos’ they work for me. Hard to believe isn’t it? Well, may be this helps. In mid 80s an expat commissioning engineer in oil and gas was paid around RM30k/month while local malaysians got about 1/3 of that, these are contract staff position. An equivalent or senior position for permanent staff would get slightly over 1/4. That’s the secret, when you are hired for your expertise and for short term contract, you get more. The irony of it is that, those who are hired as contract staff could stay in the same oil and gas company even longer than the permanent staff! Many permanent staff such as myself left such company, regretting the lower salary doing the same job…well that’s lesson no. 1.
Now in 2010…30 years later, would RM100k/month not reasonable to you when in mid 80s an engineer could get RM30k/month? Of course those in the same sector may think these kind of high salary as unbelievable, and those who mentioned them considered as arrogant or boastful, well me saying here has no intention of acting that way but merely discussing since this thread is about salaries isn’t it? Believe or not only those who know the truth would agree. In case you have doubt that there are many engineers or manger who get a gross of RM1.0 millionor more per year, visit oil anf gas advertisement and see fo yourself the range of offered salaries!
Why is that salary in oil and gas so high…i.e. a principal or lead engineer salary in oil and gas is higher than a medical specialist? Simple. O&G engineer deal with producing oil, a rare and depleting commodity which price had exceeded USD100/barrel last year and currently hovering between USD70-80/barrel. When a platform produce ‘000 of barrel per day, imagine per month, imagine per year, imagine a lifespan of 25 years, multiply by price per barrel…what do you get? Meanhwile the medical specialists are paid by patients who would try to minimise the cost (who wouldn’t) if possible, but have little choice as life is precious and no oil barrel could replace….but medical specialists money come from patients and oil and gas money comes from oil…2 different drives! Guess you get the drip thus far.
Frankie, I agreed with you on that.
I would like to share my experience especially for the young one. I was from a poor Chinese family, graduated in 1993 ( UK) BEng (Hons),sponsored by government, don’t be surpised, many non bumis are able to get government financial aid, just that , government cant afford to give everyone. I worked as an elec/instrument engineer in a petrol chemical plant for 4 years. Starting salary RM2,000. Last drawn salary RM4,800. I had my professional engineer qualification 1997. I joined a new company as a sales engineer. My starting salary was RM4,000 in fact ,lower than my previous job.
I didn’t mind the lower salary, I felt that, one needed to do sell to earn more. My mum was complaining abt my decision to become a “saleman”, my wife said i was crazy., my sis said ” you don’t need to go to UK to become a saleman, u have a good job now”.
After 4 years of working, I gathered a lot of good contacts and networking. My last drawn salary was RM8,500 ( my former boss offered me good money cos of my contacts). I decided to quit to form my own company, again complained by my mum and wife.
I formed a electrical/instrument company in 2001. My networth is now estimated at RM23 million. My company produces RM1 million net profit after tax, even I sleep doing nothing. because it controls some brandnames.
Because of my nature, I don’t like electrical engineering, I don’t actually active in that company anymore , I passed it to my wife and a partner to monitor the financial matter.
I go on to find other passive income business. I am successful in plantation and property ventures. they contributed easily another 1 million in passive income.
Now I have a lot of freetime, I can do whatever I wish. anyway, my living style has never changed compare to 1993. I live in a small house, I drive my old car Isuzu1997. I don’t have the interest to spend on luxurious thing. I love passive income, im very greedy.
Wow .. you’ve shared with us a great story of financial success. I would like to invite you to share more in a form of article or interview.
Sigh, seeing all the comments about how underpaid engineers are these days makes me worry.
I just graduated from University of Nottingham with a BEng ( Hons ) Mechanical, Material and Manufacturing Engineering. Currently working as internship in a company that did biotech, biomedical and environmental resource management while waiting for my not-so-promising scholarship for my PhD in Mechanical Engineering. I did get the offer.
If I could not get the scholarship, I would have no doubt go out looking for jobs. Imagine in earning RM2500.00 in a month, you could barely survive in KL. With proper financial management, you might just survive the day. This is so frustrating.
RM 2500 / mth for fresh grad. worker is consider high pay category.
working as engineer for 10yrs now my pay is RM9,000 basic. total pay include meal allow. /mth and car allow./mth may upto RM10,000. /mth
if boss want me to suck ass, i have 1 answer ever “OK”
Can you do that?
hw much slary for a lawyer ?
what is “k” like 25 k….?
can you please guide me
the “k” is like “kilo” you learnt from school.
“k” = adding 000 to the number.
25k = 25,000
I was a fresh graduate from INTI college,i graduated in year 2002,got into a company and start working at RM1700 income,with car and handphone allowance.
After 4 years of working,i decided to start doing on my own since the company i’m working with,has too many relatives or “ka ki lang” and i don’t think i can fit in well anymore.
After another 4 years managing my ‘one man show’ company,the company’s has finally achieved a monthly profit of RM60k. I’m now living in a RM700k semi D at kepong,driving a few japanese sport cars(all the cars worth about RM500k), and my company has about RM1.2million yearly turnover. Although it’s very small,but i have low overhead,coz i’m the salesman,the delivery man,and also the debt collector for my company. So far i’m running the company all aloone,and i’m comfortable with my decision,company stay small,expenses stay low,but sales..i’m working hard to make it better.
Hi,
good day! just want to ask some information regarding basic salary in malaysia, im working as a service engr here in philippines and plan to work in malaysia. Can you pls give me some advise on basic salary that fits on my job description.
Thanks….