65pct of degree holders in Malaysia earn below RM3k, study finds

By Suzalina Halid - May 22, 2025 @ 1:13pm

KUALA LUMPUR: Over 65 per cent of degree holders in Malaysia earn less than RM3,000 a month, a figure sufficient only to cover basic necessities, with little room to save, invest, or move up the socioeconomic ladder.

In addition, more than 70 per cent of graduates are forced to work in semi-skilled or unskilled sectors.

These findings were presented in a study titled The 'Gaji Cukup Makan' Economy: When Higher Education Becomes an Economic Risk, conducted under the Malaysia Labour Market Insight Series.

Its author, Dr Mohd Yusof Saari, said the report revealed a deep structural crisis between higher education and employment, with tertiary education no longer guaranteeing wages that match qualifications and skill levels.

"This reveals the true state of graduate employability, which is often reported to be above 80 per cent.

"But the report highlights that these figures can be misleading, as they include all forms of employment without accounting for skill mismatches or wage levels.

"The reality is that 65 per cent of degree holders in this country earn a monthly salary of under RM3,000," he said in a statement today.

He also pointed to the widespread mismatch between academic qualifications and employment as a sign of declining returns on investment in higher education.

He said that although skill mismatch is not unique to Malaysia, and occurs even in developed countries, the situation is more pronounced here due to persistently low salaries.

"This offers no protection to those working in jobs that do not match their qualifications.

"In Malaysia, the mismatch leads to deeper economic vulnerability, limits upward mobility, and reduces the incentive to pursue higher education - especially among lower-income groups," he said.

Consequently, pursuing higher education is becoming increasingly risky from an economic standpoint, particularly for young people who must bear the rising cost of education without the assurance of commensurate salaries.

He said the growing disconnect between qualifications, job quality and career rewards is challenging the traditional belief that education guarantees better social mobility.

"The report identifies several key causes of this crisis, including sluggish wage growth, weaknesses in pre-employment preparation, and low demand for skilled labour from the private sector.

"These factors have resulted in a stagnant wage trajectory, where the income gap between graduates and non-graduates is minimal - especially during the early stages of their careers."

The author called for structural reforms, including the replacement of misleading employability indicators with measures that reflect actual skill matching.

Other proposals include the development of a long-term graduate outcome tracking system, the restructuring of industrial training and pre-employment pathways, the modernisation of industries, and the redesign of jobs to address deeply rooted structural issues.

"The government must also introduce wage guidelines as an advisory tool to address wage suppression.

"The report proposes a holistic policy framework that integrates education planning, labour market demand and wage outcomes - moving beyond fragmented policies towards a coherent, national, outcome-based strategy."

He added that the report provides a macro perspective on structural challenges in Malaysia's graduate labour market, offering a comprehensive diagnosis of wage stagnation, skills mismatch, and inefficiencies in the education-to-employment pathway.

In addition to identifying critical policy gaps, the report also called for further research to transform these findings into targeted, high-impact reforms.

"Such follow-up is crucial in designing appropriate policy interventions, tailored to the realities faced by graduates across various sectors, demographics and education tracks.

"When graduate salaries are barely distinguishable from those of non-graduates, investing in higher education is no longer a guaranteed path to social mobility, it has become an economic risk," he said.

The Gaji Cukup Makan report was developed by the Centre for Future Labour Market Research (EU-Era) under Future Studies Berhad (The Future).

The Future is dedicated to leading the transformation of Malaysia's economy and labour market through evidence-based research, aimed at informing policymakers, industry players and the public on the implications of this ongoing transformation.


SOS

what age?

no mention of age, just discreet degree holders. I assume they are talking about fresh grads

This post has been edited by ipohps3: May 22 2025, 01:32 PM

time to remove useless courses in the universities.

Lol. Batch the graduates now say match the qualification.

Hiring employers, mana? They do not fall from sky nor do they grow on trees

This post has been edited by jojolicia: May 22 2025, 01:40 PM

degree also many type degree

and age can be age 50 with 25-30 years of work experience with degree
vs fresh grad

mana boleh compare like this aduiiiii

epf already publish the stats. buat lupa ka

because if you pay that amount still got takers...so someone sure take and spoil market

then the stats cannot take as it is lo...
imagine EPF day in day out say EPF member dont have 10k in their account, padahal they take into account large portions of workforce which only started working 1-2 years into their statistics... of course la dont have 10k....

even 3k celery.
12 months work only got 8.7k in EPF

My fren co looking for graphic designer, celery above the rm2.9k mark one, PM me.

If it is typical rubbish course and degree then why surprised?

#2 kerja

Very easy to solve this problem

Just make it mandatory for companies to pay RM8000 per month to graduate.

Immediately, many low value businesses will lingkup and gulung tikar.

Suddenly, high end companies wanna come here and re train your graduates

Welcome high end companies to come here. Your brightest graduates will stay in Malaysia. They won't leave for Singapore.

Short term pain . Long term gain.

But of course, those parasites making money from foreign workers quota won't like it

TOPKEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

why 8000? mind as well make it 20k

Very easy talk right.
How to pay 8k when interviewee say this.
My englishi no good. Bahasa boleh tak?

Back in 2013 fresh grad salary was rm1800

 The_Gaji_Cukup_Makan_Economy.pdf ( 5.6mb ) Number of downloads: 78

why high end companies want to come when your minimum wage is RM8k? companies are out there to make money not make friends.. the only reason why ppl want to come into malaysia is because we are cheap. 4.5times cheaper than the americans, 5 times cheaper than euro... 3.5 times cheaper than singapore.

Some jobs are literally 1 to 1 pay scale in comparison.

TLDR, write article got money wan

Yup, actually Malaysia manpower has 2 dilemmas, underemployed, then also underpaid.

Back in 1984, fresh grad in bank was 1,450 ......

back 2005 , graduate is around 1500-1800

unfortunately in the real world, qualifications does not equate to skill and experience

Firstly, retain your best talent. Without talented people, you can't find any solution. If you continue to lose your talent, you will become poorer over time.

Once you tackle this issue, the rest will start to fall into place

now people understand why malaysia is suffering such a major brain drain

and yet they would pay u that amount if you work for them remotely

but not when you work for them physically here

What degree first. Some subjects are worthless. I pasang pc only also already over 3k.

if u in local uni, u see some of the students then you will understand why not all degree holder is the same

gif embed pun fail, embed jpg pulak

no wonder company wont pay 8000

lels

In general, all these news discourage people kids to study beyond SPM, it's not worth it spending 40k and come out with debt and low wage.

too low go singapore

ai say

No, a college degree does not guarantee wealth. While a degree can increase your chances of higher earnings and career advancement, it's not a guaranteed path to wealth. Factors like career choice, entrepreneurial endeavors, and smart financial decisions also play a significant role.

https://www.reddit.com/r/malaysia/comments/...intake_numbers/

Many times cheaper plus can 1 man do multiple role, and not many talent in msia can do that, you think these companies want someone that’s already have the same kind of workload in their home country? They just want their own kind to goyang telur.

many people have written hundreds pages for decades and decades on why, but gomen always throw away the report without bothering to read one line even

This post has been edited by Redhunt: May 22 2025, 02:51 PM

Dont say degree holder, those Master/ PHDs also low ball down to degree holder range to rebut makan with them

Just had a heavy lunch. Ain't gonna digest your BLANK BIG words and contexts there. Lol


This post has been edited by jojolicia: May 22 2025, 02:59 PM

Supply and demand thanks to degree mills.
This problem is common in the world now.....

You need an effective and positive economy chains to retain talents.

Neighbouring countries catching up fast skill wise. Last time ppl say msia got bi skills. Now more filipinos speak better england than us. Even India and vietnam, the young ppl all can into bi.

The only thing we got left is shared history with SG. When sg no space to expand they will build in my. But this is all temporary when can outsource to filippine and India for even less.

According to the PWM, entry-level waste collection workers are expected to earn a minimum gross monthly salary of S$2,420 from July 2024 to June 2025.

RM8k salary as a garbage collector. tunggu apa lagi.

Already said Doc pun B40 la..what degree holder expect in bolehland?

Want RM3.5K to to start? Become Myanmar can get..

This ship is sinking fast....

degree holders more than lembu in msia
3k syukur la apa lagi mau
want gip u company car atas house private office room ka

if degree holder also die

spm holder? lagi mati

Thats why Malaysians must go Johor and work in Singapore-Johor SEZ.

Singapore already providing high paying jobs to millions of Malaysians to put food on tables and pay bills.

Now they will help Malaysia even more by agreeing to pay Malaysian degree holders at least RM4k.

Majulah Singapura



https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/755851

govt must increase brim

If that's true, that means degree holders are no longer valuable. It is better to be chap fan sellers, air con installers, pipe installers, car workshop owners etc than wasting your money studying for degree. Though I doubt the statistics, knowing how the job market is like. The statistics might be flawed.

If the statistics is only on starting salary, then it is possible. There is no point to offer very high pay just because someone has a degree. There are people cannot perform using what they learn from the degree, but is more suitable for other jobs.

This post has been edited by vhs: May 22 2025, 05:15 PM

I know many SPM holders end up becoming quite rich because they don't climb the corporate ladders, but become entrepreneurs instead.

u need to see the % then

What do you think is the success rate of entrepreneurs?

5%? 10%? 50%? 90%?

Stop glamourising entrepreneurs

You know how tough is the business environment now?

Wealth pyramid is the controlling factor. There is certain percentage will have higher income and a lot more percentage will have lower income. If the whole country wealth is low, then the lower percentage group will never get a higher income. For example, Malaysia can make 100% degree holders to have RM3000 starting salary easily, just by causing inflation to make RM3000 now worth only RM1500. Then all nominal income will go up, but the real value of the income still the same. To truly deliver real value to the starting salary, you have to generate real wealth at a national level, such as making 1 USD = 2.5 MYR. Then the value of RM will actually improve.

no

i mean among 1000 spm holder , how many success
vs 1000 degree holder

like this baru fair

cannot be 1 spm holder success = ALL spm holder success leh

For those people who are suitable to be entrepreneurs but cannot study, being an entrepreneurs suit them better. I have known many not very educated people becoming rich because they are good at their own area. It is the same reason of why some degree holders never get to high paying positions. It is because they are not suitable at their line of work. Having a degree does not automatically guarantee you good pay if you cannot be good at your supposedly specialized areas. One of the biggest mistake is someone study in a field just because that field has good pay, but he himself finds the subject difficult and stressful and end up not being good at it.

that's what i call naive.. money isn't the only way to retain talent.. it's always balance. u jack it up to rm8k for all freshie everyone will run to India, Philippines.. no reason to choose Malaysia.

never learn a lesson? post COVID there's so much Singapore retrenchment for IT sector.. while they retrench in SG they were mass hiring in Malaysia.. from UOB all the way to GRAB. for company it's always profit which matters.. not your rice bowl or my rice bowl. there's no such thing as irreplaceable talent.. infact a company built base on irreplaceable talent that's a bottleneck for growth.

MNC required multilingual

Sini ADUN in state assembly cakap : Cakap bahasa malaysia lah please

Unker think some of your friends are politicians. Many of them are entrepreneurs and "kuat menabung sejak kecil"

This post has been edited by boyboycute: May 22 2025, 07:35 PM

You know that our ship is sinking fast

when i start working in late 90s.... my basic already RM2.5K excluding allowances... 20 yrs plus over... still the same entry salary...

Lol dafak!!!

When a Degree No Longer Guarantees a Better Life
Aden Nagrace 29 May 2025

A recent study by a labour market research group has laid bare a sobering reality — many Malaysian graduates are earning just enough to survive.

The report, titled “The ‘Gaji Cukup Makan’ Economy: When Higher Education Becomes an Economic Risk”, challenges the long-held belief that a university degree guarantees a meaningful wage premium or a pathway to a better life.

According to the findings by Future Studies Berhad, the assumption that tertiary education automatically secures a prosperous future is increasingly being dismantled by data. For many young Malaysians, especially those from low- and middle-income families, this promise is falling apart.

And the findings are not just eye-opening — they are heart-breaking.

Despite Malaysia’s consistently high graduate employability rates — often cited as exceeding 80 per cent — the numbers are misleading. These statistics include all forms of employment, even those unrelated to one’s qualifications, field of study, or income expectations.

Let’s look at the facts:

- Over 70 per cent of employed graduates are working in semi-skilled or low-skilled jobs, often far removed from their academic training.
- More than 65 per cent of degree holders earn below RM3,000 a month — barely enough to sustain themselves, let alone support a household or save for the future.

Let that sink in. After years of attending lectures, sitting for exams, completing unpaid internships, accumulating student debt, and making countless personal sacrifices, a significant number of graduates are receiving little more than subsistence-level wages.

This isn’t merely an economic issue — it’s a wake-up call.

The report warns of a steady decline in the return on investment in higher education. What was once viewed as a gateway to upward mobility has, for many, become a high-cost, high-risk pursuit with diminishing returns.

Understandably, more and more parents are starting to ask the hard questions: Is a university education still worth it? And for the first time in generations, the answer is no longer an automatic yes.

Where Did We Go Wrong?

Future Studies Berhad identifies several root causes behind this troubling trend:

- Stagnant wage growth in key industries,
- A limited appetite for high-skilled workers, particularly in the private sector,
- Outdated recruitment models that place little value on specialised knowledge, and
- A glaring gap between academic learning and real-world employability.

The result? Many graduates today start their careers earning salaries not much higher than those with only SPM qualifications. Worse, their career progression is slow — if it happens at all. Many find themselves underemployed, working in positions that neither challenge them nor fully utilise their skills.

This, in turn, leads to disillusionment, reduced self-confidence, and, increasingly, a desire to seek greener pastures abroad. Brain drain is no longer a theory. It’s a consequence of systemic failure.

Skills Beyond Books

In light of these findings, one thing is clear—academic excellence alone is no longer enough. Today’s students must also develop soft skills, adaptability, and entrepreneurial thinking to remain competitive.

Discipline, the right attitude, and commitment are key. A degree may open the door, but it is a graduate’s character, mindset, and initiative that determine whether they will be seen as an asset to an employer — or overlooked entirely.

Those with a strong skill set and business acumen may even choose to create their path by starting a business or offering freelance services. This shift from job-seeking to job-creating mindsets should be encouraged and supported.

A Systemic Overhaul

The report calls for bold and urgent reforms:

- Stop hiding behind inflated employability statistics; instead, publish real data on underemployment and income levels.
- Redesign internship programmes to offer meaningful, skill-based experiences that bridge education and employment.
- Invest in job redesign and industrial upgrading to stimulate demand for high-skilled roles.
- Introduce wage advisory guidelines to correct stagnation and compression.
- Align education with labour market needs by adopting a holistic, outcome-oriented approach that prioritises both relevance and resilience.

In short, we must completely rethink the education-to-employment pipeline. It’s no longer enough to produce graduates — we must prepare future-ready professionals.

Sarawak’s Bold Move

Against this bleak national backdrop, Sarawak stands out with a game-changing decision.

Starting next year, the Sarawak government will offer free tertiary education at all state-owned institutions of higher learning. This landmark move, if implemented fully and inclusively, has the potential to lighten the financial load on thousands of families and encourage more Sarawakians to pursue higher education.

Hopefully, the policy will cover all programmes and not just selected fields. Done right, it could democratise access to education and ensure that no capable student is left behind due to financial barriers.

More importantly, it could restore public confidence in the promise of education as a true equaliser.

The Road Ahead

While Sarawak deserves commendation for its bold initiative, the federal government must also rise to the occasion. There is an urgent need to revisit graduate salary benchmarks to reflect both market demand and the rising cost of living.

Let’s be frank — if we continue to undervalue our brightest minds, we risk losing them altogether. The frustration will grow, and the trust in our institutions will erode.

We can no longer sell the narrative that a degree guarantees a better life without fixing the system behind it. Otherwise, we’re not just failing our youth — we’re jeopardising the future of our nation.

It’s time to reset our expectations and reform our institutions. Higher education, while not a silver bullet, can still be a powerful tool for upward mobility — if supported by the right policies, opportunities, and investments.

Our graduates deserve more than just survival. They deserve the opportunity to thrive.

Source: https://www.sarawaktribune.com/when-a-degre...-a-better-life/

Not enough good jobs available for all the graduates. Always push your children to work hard in secondary schools to get good spm/ stpm results so they can study abroad and hopefully live and work there after graduating

20 years ago, starting salary RM1.8k.
2025 also 1.8k bruh