Malaysia’s labour market improves with lower unemployment

The unemployment rate dropped to 4.2% in December from 4.3% in the previous month, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) reported.
By: | February 10, 2022
Topics: Health and Wellness | Malaysia | News | Recruitment

At the same time, the number of employed persons in December rose marginally by 0.2% to 15.65 million month-on-month.

DOSM also said that the employment-to-population ratio, which indicates the ability of an economy to create employment in the country, increased by a marginal 0.1 percentage point to 66.1% in December from the 66.0% in November.

Month-on-month, the number of unemployed persons in Malaysia continued to decrease by 1% to 687,600 persons in December.

By industry, employment in the services sector remained high for the sixth month apart from the manufacturing and construction sectors recording growth for five consecutive months, while employment in the agriculture, mining and quarrying sectors continued to decline since August 2020.

Year-on-year, the overall labour force participation rate (LFPR) for last year rose 0.2 percentage point to 68.6% compared to the 68.4% in 2020, and the increase in employment was due to the low working population in 2020.

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“In Malaysia, the effects from the COVID-19 pandemic somewhat disrupted the economic recovery and it has also affected the overall recovery of the labour market as its recovery is directly proportional to economic performance,” said chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin.