It is compulsory for all eligible employees who are Malaysian citizens and permanent residents to register. All employees who are employed under a contract of service or apprenticeship in the private sector and contractual / temporary staff of Federal / State Government as well as Federal / State Statutory Bodies need to be registered and covered by SOCSO. The rate of contribution is capped at monthly wage ceiling of RM4,000.00.

However, for husband or wife who acts as the main employer, amendment was made to not exclude the spouse from this coverage of ESSA 1969 starting 1st July 2018, based on Employees' Social Security Order (First Schedule Amendment) 2018 in Federal Governement Gazette (P.U.(A) 144/2018). This means that the spouse to an enterprise owner can be registered as an employee.