The latest Labour Force statistics from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) revealed that Malaysia’s unemployment rate has finally returned to pre-pandemic levels at 3.3% in November 2023, with 569,200 unemployed individuals. This is in comparison to the 3.4% unemployment rate that was still recorded back in October 2023, which points to Malaysia’s positive economic growth.

In a statement, DOSM shared that the labour force in November 2023 had increased by 0.2% month-on-month to 17 million persons, as compared to the previous month’s figure of 16.97 million persons. Accordingly, the number of employed persons in November 2023, too, rose by 0.2% month-on-month, up from 16.4 million persons in October to 16.43 million individuals.  

DOSM also noted that 75.3% of the employed persons population is made up of the employees category, which increased slightly by 0.1% from the previous month. This translates to 12.37 million persons, up from 12.35 million persons in October 2023. Meanwhile, 18.2% of the employed persons group fell under the own-account workers category, which also rose by 0.3% from the previous month to 2.99 million persons. Finally, the remaining percentage of 6.4% of the employed persons group is comprised of employers (3.5%) and unpaid family workers (3%).

On the front of unemployed individuals, 79.9% of this population is made up of actively unemployed individuals in November 2023, which is equivalent to 454,500 individuals; this is down by 0.6% from the previous month. To explain, actively unemployed individuals refer to those who are unemployed, but are actively looking for work.

Inactively unemployed individuals who believe that there are no jobs available, meanwhile, make up the remaining 20.1% of the overall unemployed individuals group. This category saw a 0.8% month-on-month increase to 114,700 persons.

Responding to this latest update, chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said that the return of Malaysia’s unemployment rate to its pre-pandemic levels can be attributed to the country’s diversified economic structure and strong fundamentals.

Moving forward, the local employment landscape is expected to remain robust, in line with the nation’s growing economic performance – especially with the upcoming holiday season set to further boost Malaysia’s economy. He also opined that the floods in 2023 are unlikely to significantly affect the overall labour market, given that they are primarily impacting local areas.

(Source: DOSM [1, 2])

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• Malaysia Unemployment Rate
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