The latest labour report from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) indicated that Malaysia’s unemployment rate has improved to 3.7% in July 2022 from 3.8% in June 2022. Correspondingly, the total of unemployed individuals also decreased by 1.6%, down to 620,700 persons from 630,600 persons last month.

A total of 83.4% of the unemployed group is classified as actively unemployed, which is described as those who are unemployed but are actively job searching. This translates to 517,400 persons, down from 528,500 persons from the previous month. Meanwhile, 16.6% of the unemployed group is categorised as inactively unemployed – those who are unemployed and believe that there are no job opportunities available – totalling to 103,300 individuals. This is a slight bump up as compared to 102,100 persons in June 2022.

As for the employed person group, the number of Malaysians who are working in July 2022 recorded a positive growth of 0.3%, which is equivalent to 15.98 million people in July 2022 compared to 15.94 million people in the past month. Of this number, 76% of this group are categorised as employees – up 0.2% from 12.13 million persons in June to 12.14 million persons in July – while the remaining individuals fall into other categories, such as own-account workers (17.5%), employers (3.4%), and unpaid family workers (3.1%).

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy), Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed attributed the stronger labour market to Malaysia’s improved economic position in the second quarter of 2022, with an economic growth rate of 8.9%. “For the first half of 2022, the national economy grew by 6.9%. Upon the government’s decision to open its doors on 1 April, there was increased economic and social activity. This has had a positive impact on the country’s labour market which has created more jobs and business opportunities,” he said.

Dato’ Sri Mustapa also said that the recovery in labour market is supported by government initiatives. These include the inception of JaminKerja – Employment Incentive Programme (JKIP) and the national jobs portal, MyFutureJobs.

Moving forward, the country’s unemployment rate is expected to improve further in the third quarter of 2022. “The increasing rate of 4.7% for the third quarter of 2022 from 3.5% in the second quarter of the year is a sign of confidence which depicts that the economic situation is expected to improve in the third quarter this of this year,” Dato’ Sri Mustapa said, referring to Malaysia’s business confidence indicator.

(Sources: DOSM, Business Today)

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• Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed
• Department Of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM)
• DOSM
• Malaysia Unemployment Rate
• Unemployment
• Unemployment Rate