MYR 20,000 : the new minimum monthly wage, for top expats in Malaysia. I like this number for a weird reason.
Back in 2008, just three years after I graduated, I had a reasonable idea about Malaysian corporate pay scales. I figured that I needed to make at least MYR 15,000 in the long-term, and that would be "more than enough" to cover my own personal expenses, since my entire life is planned for survival around minimum wage. ( 50 years at 3% inflation would bring it down to 3+k in 2008 MYR ). I managed to hit this number by 2011, via software development.
This was also roughly the top-end for fresh graduate pay in KL with the MBB top tickets, so it was a good round number to work around. As a performance snob, I found the folks in jobs like this rather clownish, so I generally didn't think it made sense to bill less than that.
In 2026 I'm about 30% through a 10-year study break, and so my income has been zero. I'm supposed to start applying for work in 2032, and I always wonder what that will be like ( I don't want to have any ideas about it ). I was thinking to start shopping at that time across all jobs between MYR 35,000 and minimum wage, then shortlist the most interesting ones.
The 20k number now is nice, because now I can just bench against it. Basically anyone can talk to Malaysian employers now about whether it makes more sense for them to pay 20k, and go through the hassle of hiring an expat, or just hire a Malaysian at the same rate. So as a Malaysian job seeker, you only need to out-perform expats asking for 60,000 USD/y, which is nonsense fresh-graduate pay in the first-world ...
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