Which part-time job in Malaysia pays the most? We checked

Whether you’re a university student or someone who just joined the workforce, the rising costs of living and projected increase in inflation this year will probably mangle your wallets equally badly. And when push comes to shove, and your finances are taking a nosedive, you might have to go to your backup plan… getting a part-time job.

But not all part-time jobs are the same; they pay differently, and some of them might not fit into your schedule, or preferred working style, so which is really the one for you? Well, rather than only giving you some numbers off the internet, we’ve also spoken to a few people who have part-time jobs from different industries to find out:

1. How much you can earn from these jobs on average; and
2. Things to consider before sending in your application

In case you’re wondering why we’re doing this, our friends at the Ministry of Finance understand that part-time and gig jobs are becoming more important, especially for college and university students, so alongside initiatives in Belanjawan 2023 (which we’ll get into later), they also want to help you find a gig that fits your bill.

For now, get your resumes ready, and let’s start the list off with…

1. Promoter (Average: RM100 – RM120 per day)

Lowest pay we surveyed: RM70 per day, with commissions (Optical shop at MyTown mall, KL)

Highest pay we surveyed: RM180 per day (One World Hotel, Genting Highlands)

This one’s a fairly common entry-level gig since most of the time, you don’t need any experience to apply to be a promoter, and the pay is decent. The most common gig you can get, which is a weekend gig at the supermarket, usually pays RM80 to RM120 a day for an 8 to 12 hour shift.

There is kind of a catch, though – the person we interviewed told us that unlike other more ‘stable’ part-time jobs (cashier or waiter), many promoter jobs are only available during events or when a company wants to promote their product in a supermarket.

Plus, if an event happens during the weekdays and you have classes at the same time, you’ll have a clash in your schedule, which is why many promoters who are in college or uni only look for weekend or holiday gigs.

Besides that, certain gigs for events will bundle two jobs into one and pay you more for that.

This listing for a cashier cum promoter for an event at Mid Valley Exhibition Centre, KL, pays RM360-RM400 (about RM16 per hour) for three days of work. And speaking of cashiers…

2. Cashier (Average: RM8 – RM12 per hour)

Lowest pay we surveyed: RM7 per hour (Shop in Chow Kit, KL)

Highest pay we surveyed: RM15 per hour (Shop in Dang Wangi, KL)

If you don’t like the idea of selling or interacting with people, then being a cashier might be a good option (outside of telling people that they need to weigh their fruits and veggies before paying at the counter).

And more likely than not, you’ll be standing in one spot for hours. It might sound boring, but if you wanna rest your brain after a long day of studying, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

3. Waiter/Waitress (Average: RM8-10 per hour)

Lowest pay we surveyed: RM7.50 per hour (Eatery in Changkat Bukit Bintang, KL)

Highest pay we surveyed: RM15 per hour (Event at Wisma Huangzhong, KL)

Finishing off the trifecta of classic part-time jobs, we have the waiter/waitress. Sure, you might not earn as much per day compared to a promoter, but being a waiter or waitress has its own benefits.

You don’t have to look for a new job every weekend, and perhaps best of all, you can arrange your work shifts so that they don’t get in the way of your classes. Say you wanna work 6pm to 10pm for four days a week, chances are, you’ll be able to sort it out with your boss. Occasionally, there are also one-off private events where they need waiters and waitresses, and these pay more from what we’ve seen.

Just be prepared to move around a lot – especially at peak meal hours – cause you’ll have to be taking orders and serving food and drinks. That’s one way to get your daily steps in, eh?

4. Food Delivery Rider (About RM4.50 per delivery)

We didn’t have a ‘lowest’ or ‘highest’ pay here, since the amount you earn as a food delivery rider hinges on a lot of things – which company you work for, how fast the eatery prepares the food, how far the delivery destination is, whether it’s raining or not, and so on.

But to give y’all an idea of how much you can make, the rider we spoke to said that he gets paid RM4.50 per order. He tries to squeeze in three to five orders an hour, making his hourly wage roughly RM13.50 to RM22.50. If you do eight hours of this every Saturday and Sunday, you can walk (or ride) away with more than RM800 a month. However, some of those profits will have to go to fuel, bike maintenance and other upkeep stuff.

One of the biggest upsides of the job is time flexibility. You can work as much or as little as you want, making it super easy to fit a few hours of work in after classes or on the weekends, but you’ll need a vehicle and a licence first to qualify for the job.

While that can be a pretty big barrier of entry, our government has an initiative that provides assistance for people who wanna get their motorcycle licence to ease the burden a bit.

5. E-hailing Driver (About RM50 per hour)

Again, the situation with e-hailing drivers is same-same as delivery riders, and how much you can earn depends on similar factors. As a yardstick, a driver told us that he makes up to RM50 if he can ferry three separate customers in an hour, and he can earn roughly RM300 a day for driving around 8 hours. That means there’s potential here for you to rake in over RM2,000 ringgit a month if you do it diligently every weekend.

Before you put your pedal to the metal, though, there are a lot of things you have to do beforehand – you’ll need to get a PSV licence in order for you to legally drive paying passengers around, secure an e-hailing insurance, there’s annual vehicle checks, medical checks, and more. Yeah, it can be daunting for people who are new to the e-hailing industry. The good news is: there’s funding from the government for you to get your PSV licence, so that’s one less thing to worry about.

Now, even if you’ve decided on which part time job you wanna get, we’re guessing that…

You probably don’t want to work a part-time job forever

A part-time job is called that because it’s supposed to be a temporary thing. And whether you’re a student or not, upskilling will help you either secure a full-time job, or progress your career.

Our Ministry of Finance understands that all too well, and that’s why they’ve set aside RM40 million to help gig workers obtain microcredentials while working a part-time job. You can check out the microcredential courses available on MyFutureJobs, and find more information about how to apply on PERKESO’s website. The government will subsidise up to RM4,000 off any of the courses you take. On top of that, you can also get an allowance of RM300 per month for three months as replacement income from PERKESO.

Aside from that, there’s the aforementioned monetary aid to assist people in getting their licences so they can jump into the delivery or e-hailing industries. The government will waive the test fee for B2 class motorcycles, taxi, bus and e-hailing licences specifically for those in the B40 group. They’re allocating RM4.7million to cover everything from materials to classes, until you get your licence. More info will be coming soon, but you can keep an eye out for this on the Belanjawan 2023 website.

Additionally, if you’re looking to pay off your student loans, you don’t wanna miss out on the PTPTN discounts currently available. You’d better check this out soon, because 31 May is the last date to apply for up to 20% discount.

But all of this is just a small part of Belanjawan 2023 benefits, and if y’all wanna know what other initiatives are available this year, check out their official site right here.