Malaysia’s unemployment rate eased from 4.5% in September 2021 to 4.3% in October, dipping to the lowest rate since April 2020. Revealed in the latest labour report by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), the October figure is equivalent to 705,000 unemployed individuals, decreasing 3.4% from 729,600 persons from the previous month.

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said that the improvement in the labour force situation is facilitated by the fact that many states have transited to Phase 4 of the National Recovery Plan. This is following the increase in vaccination rates and declining number of Covid-19 daily cases.

“This positive development resulted in the reopening of economic activities and interstate travel allowed. Besides that, many tourist destinations were allowed to re-open to fully-vaccinated visitors, thus boosting travel and domestic tourism activities during that month (October),” Datuk Seri Uzir further said.

The report also revealed that of the 705,000 unemployed persons, 83.6% is made up of those who are actively unemployed – down by 3.5% from 611,000 persons in September to 589,500 persons. This group is defined as unemployed individuals who are actively looking for a job. Additionally, out of the actively unemployed, 55.5% have been out of work for less than three months, whereas 7.8% were jobless for over a year.

Meanwhile, the number of employed persons continued to show an upward trend in October, increasing month-on-month by 0.6%, from 15.46 million individuals in September to 15.55 million individuals in October. Accordingly, the employees category – which makes up 77% of the employed persons group – saw a 0.4% increase from 11.93 million persons in September to 11.97 million persons in October. Likewise, the own-account workers – consisting of daily income earners and self-employed individuals – rose by 1.4% to 2.61 million persons (2.57 million individuals in September).

With regard to the employment rate of upcoming months, Datuk Seri Uzir said that the outlook is forecasted to be positive. This is provided new and more lethal Covid-19 variants do not sway its progress.

“Additionally, through the Budget 2022 which also focuses on rejuvenating the labour market, among others by restoring business capabilities, generating and retaining jobs as well as increase social protection, may support the businesses as well as employees, hence accelerating the recovery of the labour market,” said Datuk Seri Uzir.

(Source: DOSM [1, 2])

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• Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin
• Department of Statistics Malaysia
• DOSM
• Malaysia Unemployment Rate
• Unemployment
• Unemployment Rate