KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 — Malaysia’s manufacturing sales value in August 2022 expanded 24.4 per cent to RM157.4 billion.

The better performance was driven by the subsectors of electrical and electronics (E&E), petroleum, chemicals, rubber and plastics as well as food, beverage and tobacco products.

The E&E products subsector contributed 25.8 per cent to the sales value; petroleum, chemicals, rubber and plastic products subsector (27.6 per cent), and the food, beverage and tobacco products subsector (18.4 per cent), according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).

The total number of employees engaged in the manufacturing sector in August 2022 was 2.31 million persons, an increase of 4.3 per cent compared to 2.2 million persons in August 2021.

"The increment was contributed by the E&E products (6.9 per cent), wood, furniture, paper products and printing (4.9 per cent) and non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products (3.2 per cent),” it said in a statement today.

DOSM noted that salaries and wages paid amounted to RM7.77 billion, an increase of 7.5 per cent in August 2022 against the same month of the preceding year.

The sales value per employee rose by 19.3 per cent to record RM68,174 compared to the same month in 2021 while the average salaries and wages per employee were RM3,365.

For the period of January to August 2022, the sales value of the manufacturing sector jumped 17.4 per cent to RM1.16 billion compared to the same period in 2021.

"At the same time, the number of employees increased 4.3 per cent to 2.31 million persons while salaries and wages expanded 5.3 per cent to RM62.3 billion.

"Meanwhile, the sales value per employee recorded RM504,321 for the similar period of 2022 with a growth of 12.5 per cent year-on-year,” it added. — Bernama