A Malaysian returning to the country after spending a decade overseas was surprised to see the contrast in monthly wages between both countries
Having lived in Japan for 11 years, 30-year-old Ahmad Sabri decided to bring his family back to Malaysia after he found himself missing home and wanting to give back to the country.
While searching for jobs, Ahmad realised there was a difference in salaries being offered in Malaysia compared to what he was used to in Japan.
He took to Facebook on Sunday, 16 August, to share a salary comparison based on two job postings he found online from both countries.
As a mechanical engineering graduate from Japan, Ahmad said he had to do a double-take after seeing the high requirements and extensive job scope of an engineering role in Malaysia
In addition to that, he wrote he was shocked to see that the vacancy was only being offered RM2,500 a month.
"The place of work is in Puchong, where the cost of living is rather high even though it is on the outskirts of the city," he pondered.
"In addition to a requirement that every employee must have their own car, which would already take up RM300 a month, other transportation costs such as toll, petrol, and parking have to be self-borne," he said.
"You would only have the net salary of about RM1,500 after deducting the cost of your car, transportation, taxes, insurance, and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF). And we haven't considered rent and food. If you take away rent, you're probably left with RM1,000."
Then, he compared the professional role with a common, entry-level job in Japan which Malaysians fluent in English and Japanese could be hired for
An example he found was a translator role in a game software manufacturing company.
"The salary offered is about RM20,000 a month and transportation costs will be borne by the company. The net salary would be from RM18,000 to RM19,000 monthly after deducting taxes, insurance, and EPF," he said.
"After doing some calculations, rent would be about RM2,000 to RM3,000. So, the net salary now would be about RM15,000 to RM17,000 a month. The job scope is small but the salary is way much higher."
"So the question is, are Malaysians underpaid, or the Japanese overpaid?" he wondered.
Ahmad personally thinks that the professionals in Malaysia are currently underpaid for the work responsibilities that they take on
"Engineers only sound good by name but not in terms of money. Add on their wide job scope and it doesn't make sense. The salary they are being paid is too low but the expectations are high," he said.
He added that too many of his friends who studied in Japan and returned to Malaysia have left engineering and changed careers.
"These Japanese engineering graduates were earning at most RM3,500. Whereas if they go into customer service [in Japan], they could be earning up to RM8,000 a month by just being fluent in Japanese."
"It's an easy job with high pay, who wouldn't want it?" he asked.
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