Is Your Income Enough To Make You Happy? [Infographic]

Written by Farhan Gazi Illustration by Syazrul Azmi

We asked you to tell us about your income and job satisfaction, and we are happy that 1,024 of our readers took the time to share their answers with us.

What we found was that many of you do express satisfaction with your current salary, but still don’t think that you are being paid at market rate.

The average salary increase in Malaysia last year was reported to range from over 3% to 4.4% despite the challenging economic conditions due to the pandemic. However, some industries saw salaries rise while others affected by lockdowns and travel restrictions faced layoffs and salary cuts.

So, it is expected that Malaysians may have mixed reactions to how much they are earning in the last two years during the pandemic.

However, it is natural for most people to think that earning more money will make them happy, but studies have shown that past a certain number, money does not bring happiness. That ‘happiness salary’ magic number is found in the range of US$60,000 to US$95,000 (RM251,460 to RM398,145).

Here’s what Malaysians ranging from the T20 to the B40 income categories told us about how they feel about their income.