Unemployment in Malaysia dropped slightly to 4.8% in February
- Claire Lee
- Topics: Home Page - News, Job Cuts, Malaysia, News, Recruitment
Malaysia’s unemployment rate fell slightly to 4/8% in February, from 4.9% in January, according to data from the Statistics of Labour Force.
The number of unemployed persons also fell by 5,000 or 0.6%, to 777,500, from 782,500 in January.
The number of actively unemployed persons or persons who were available for work and were actively looking for jobs fell by 9,800 to 647,400 in February, from 657,200 in January, said Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin, reports Bernama.
“Those who were unemployed for less than three months accounted for 50.6% of the actively unemployed, while 11.3% of actively unemployed were in long-term unemployment of more than a year,” he said.
The sectors of wholesale and retail trade; education; and human health and social work saw a continuous increase in employment, while the tourism sector remained on a declining trend, he said.
READ: Malaysia’s unemployment rate expected to ease to 4.3% in 2021
Meanwhile, the employment levels in the manufacturing and construction industries “stayed positive”, while that of agriculture, mining and quarrying sectors recorded a reduction, he added.
As of March 26, Malaysia has approved a total of RM12.84 billion (US$3.1 billion) under its wage subsidy programme, benefitting 322,177 employers and 2.64 million employees for its first tranche of handouts, according to Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz.
