M’sia remains cheapest in Asia to hire expatriates: Survey

  • Malaysia ranks 40th as area with highest expatriate packages
  • Expatriates noticed cash compensation increase at a rate of 11% in 2021

M'sia remains cheapest in Asia to hire expatriates: Survey Findings of the latest MyExpatriate Market Pay Study published annually simply by ECA International claimed that Malaysia maintained its position because the cheapest location in Asia to hire a good expatriate in 2021.  

In a statement, the particular survey also outlined that the country arrived at 40th placement in the global ranks of locations with the highest expatriate deals.

Based on ECA, when considering the price of an expatriate package deal, companies need to factor in three main elements: the cash salary, benefits – such as accommodation, international schools, or even cars  and taxes.  

“Expatriates in Malaysia saw their money compensation rise for a price of 11%, which was higher than the local average, ” said Lee Quane, local director of Asian countries at ECA Global.  

“Despite this, Malaysia remains the location in the region with the lowest income and benefits deals for expatriate staff members in 2021, ” he added.

M'sia remains cheapest in Asia to hire expatriates: Survey The survey indicated that expatriate salary plus benefits packages in Singapore rose with a modest 4% in 2021 in nearby currency terms regardless of the city’s fall to 22nd place in the rankings of the costliest places to employ expatriates globally.

Quane said even though rates of pay growth were fairly modest in local currency terms, as soon as package values were converted into US buck, their total value rose by a total of 10%, which represented a significant recovery from the year prior to.  

“Salaries recovered after falling by an average of US$1, 000 (RM4, 400) per annum within 2020, while benefits costs, such as all those around accommodation expenses, also rose as much employers provided financial assistance to their expatriate staff in conference rising accommodation expenses as the rental marketplace bounced back in 2021, ” he explained.

“Overall, the cost of employing a good expatriate in Singapore rose by approximately 10% to just under US$250, 000 (RM1. 1 million) per annum, with cash salaries seeing increases of approximately 9. 5% in US dollar terms, ” he stated.

Somewhere else, Australia and Brand new Zealand both saw significant rises of eight and 16 positions in the worldwide rankings to 7th and 13th place respectively, owing to a number of reasons including the conditioning of their currencies, improved benefits costs, and income tax changes in the previous 12 months.

Meanwhile, China remains the location with the third-highest expatriate packages in the area after Japan plus India.  

“While the position in the ratings remains unchanged, cash salaries paid in order to expatriate staff increased by over 11% in 2021 in US dollar terms compared to the year prior to, ” Quane mentioned.  

On the other hand, while expatriates in most other places in the region saw their own salaries rise at an average rate of 9% and general packages by 10% in 2021, expatriate packages in Hong Kong saw much lower increases compared to the regional average, with salaries rising by 4. 5% and overall packages rising by just 1%.

Quane said income and benefits packages for expatriate staff members in Hong Kong recovered slightly in 2021 following a fall in the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak.  

“However cash payment packages rose simply by 4. 5% in US dollar terms, but this was less than rates of development seen in other regional economies such as The japanese and Singapore. ” 

“Furthermore, the costs of advantages continued to decrease, because they did in 2020, contributing to a drop of three locations for Hong Kong to 8 th within our rankings, ” he added.

Many countries furthermore joined Singapore and Hong Kong in falling down the rankings. These included Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam, the survey highlighted.

To assist companies to move staff with benchmarking their packages against the market, ECA stated it conducts the MyExpatriate Market Pay Survey of pay levels for expatriates around the world, including benefits, allowances, salary calculation methods, and tax treatment.