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How Much M’sian Fresh Grads From Various Industries Should Expect To Be Paid

You’ve graduated from university and clutching your squeaky clean, new degree, you tread bravely out into the ‘real world’ everyone keeps telling you about.

You don’t really know what you want to do—you thought you’d have it all figured out after university was done, but that isn’t so. Your parents are starting to breathe down your neck, even as they smile and encourage you to “Just try”.

You’ve heard about Jobstreet and you make your account, painstakingly filling in all those details, and you hit a road block, when you want to choose your pay range. How are you supposed to know or be expected to know what to ask for? If you put too low a sum, you lose out; if your figure is too high, your prospective employer might just laugh at you and pass your application by.

We’ve put together some tables of industries with the highest starting pay and the lowest starting pay, with the junior executive salary included on the side, just for a comparison to what you can expect.

These figures are shared by Jobstreet and were collected from all the job ads posted on their platform all of last year. The pay listed is an average calculation of all the advertisements for jobs made within that industry.

10 Industries That Have The Highest Starting Pay

Industry Entry Level (RM) Junior Executive (RM)
1 Tobacco 3238 3525
2 Journalism 3100 2608
3 Computer / Information Technology (Software) 2693 3503
4 Insurance 2680 3089
5 Advertising / Marketing / Promotion / PR 2558 2894
6 R&D 2538 3224
7 Call Center / IT-Enabled Services / BPO 2530 3131
8 Banking / Financial Services 2485 3081
9 Semiconductor / Wafer Fabrication 2482 3251

Note: Yes, it is odd that the entry level pay for Journalism is higher than the junior executive level. According to Jobstreet, this may be because there was more of a demand last year for entry level employees instead of Junior Executives, or that there were some companies that were offering very high pay for fresh graduates and not opening those spaces to Junior Executives, thus skewing the data.

10 Industries With The Lowest Starting Pay

Industry Entry Level (RM) Junior Executive (RM)
1 Library / Museum 1813 2717
2 Marine / Aquaculture 1829 2864
3 Food & Beverage / Catering / Restaurant 1870 2626
4 Gems / Jewellery 1921 2662
5 Repair & Maintenance Services 1955 2683
6 Hotel / Hospitality 1956 2626
7 Government / Defence 1990 3404
8 Agricultural / Plantation / Poultry / Fisheries 1993 2854
9 Apparel 2002 2847
10 Security / Law Enforcement 2004 2491

In case your industry wasn’t on either list, we’ve included an alphabetical list of all the major industries in Malaysia.

Industry Entry Level (RM) Junior Executive (RM)
1 Accounting / Audit / Tax Services 2138 2630
2 Advertising / Marketing / Promotion / PR 2558 2894
3 Aerospace / Aviation / Airline 2379 3583
4 Agricultural / Plantation / Poultry / Fisheries 1993 2854
5 Apparel 2002 2847
6 Architectural Services / Interior Designing 2254 2971
7 Arts / Design / Fashion 2021 2699
8 Automobile / Automotive Ancillary / Vehicle 2077 2801
9 Banking / Financial Services 2485 3081
10 BioTechnology / Pharmaceutical / Clinical research 2381 2976
11 Call Center / IT-Enabled Services / BPO 2530 3131
12 Chemical / Fertilizers / Pesticides 2161 3072
13 Computer / Information Technology (Hardware) 2252 3059
14 Computer / Information Technology (Software) 2693 3503
15 Construction / Building / Engineering 2253 2965
16 Consulting (Business & Management) 2468 3054
17 Consulting (IT, Science, Engineering & Technical) 2479 3213
18 Consumer Products / FMCG 2147 2939
19 Education 2152 2828
20 Electrical & Electronics 2440 2977
21 Entertainment / Media 2150 2966
22 Environment / Health / Safety 2070 2823
23 Exhibitions / Event management / MICE 2452 2798
24 Food & Beverage / Catering / Restaurant 1870 2626
25 Gems / Jewellery 1921 2662
26 General & Wholesale Trading 2142 2734
27 Government / Defence 1990 3404
28 Grooming / Beauty / Fitness 2381 2872
29 Healthcare / Medical 2216 2865
30 Heavy Industrial / Machinery / Equipment 2262 2915
31 Hotel / Hospitality 1956 2626
32 Insurance 2680 3089
33 Journalism 3100 2608
34 Law / Legal 2143 2810
35 Library / Museum 1813 2717
36 Manufacturing / Production 2080 2789
37 Marine / Aquaculture 1829 2864
38 Mining 2358 3020
39 Non-Profit Organisation / Social Services / NGO 2029 2656
40 Oil / Gas / Petroleum 2396 3208
41 Polymer / Plastic / Rubber / Tyres 2089 2837
42 Printing / Publishing 2051 2675
43 Property / Real Estate 2381 2936
44 R&D 2538 3224
45 Repair & Maintenance Services 1955 2683
46 Retail / Merchandise 2026 2728
47 Science & Technology 2404 3012
48 Security / Law Enforcement 2004 2491
49 Semiconductor / Wafer Fabrication 2482 3251
50 Sports 2073 2735
51 Stockbroking / Securities 2206 3101
52 Telecommunication 2427 3251
53 Textiles / Garment 2008 2524
54 Tobacco 3238 3525
55 Transportation / Logistics 2026 2696
56 Travel / Tourism 2081 2669
57 Utilities / Power 2113 3193
58 Wood / Fibre / Paper 2237 2746

The information about the industries and average pay was provided by JobStreet Malaysia

Feature Image Credit: pexels.com

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