The latest labour report from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) indicated that Malaysia’s unemployment rate for July 2021 has remained unchanged from the previous month, set at 4.8%. However, the number of unemployed individuals increased slightly by 1.2% to record a total of 778,200 persons compared with 768,700 persons in June 2021.

DOSM also highlighted a smaller month-on-month decline of 0.02% for the number of employed persons in July 2021, recording 15.29 million persons as compared to 15.3 million persons in June 2021.

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin attributed this slight setback to the shifting of the whole nation to Phase 1 of National Recovery Plan (NRP) due to the high numbers of Covid-19 new cases despite the ascending vaccination rate. Eight states later moved into Phase 2 of NRP to allow more economic activities, which signaled some positive effects for the economy and the labour market.

“Nevertheless, eight states which consist approximately 52% of Malaysia’s labour force remained in Phase 1 of NRP. As for Selangor and Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, most districts and localities in both states were in restricted movement control order (RMCO) starting from 3 to 15 July 2021, which had caused non-essential economic and services activities to be halted,” said the chief statistician, adding that the number of the labour force in July 2021 stood at 16.07 million persons.

To further breakdown the unemployed group in July 2021, DOSM reported that actively unemployed individuals – described at those who are unemployed and are actively looking for jobs – rose by 1.3% to 651,300 individuals from 642,900 persons in June 2021. Meanwhile, the number of those who are inactively unemployed (individuals who believe that there is a lack of available jobs) increased by 0.8% to 126,900 as compared to 125,800 persons in the previous month.

As for the employed group, the employee category – which makes up the largest composition of this group – reduced by 0.02% to 11.87 million persons in July 2021. Own-account workers (self-employed), on the other hand, continued to increase for six consecutive months with an addition of 0.3% month-on-month, recording 2.50 million persons in July 2021. Also, the number of employed persons who were temporarily not working declined by 3.1% to record 776,300 persons in July 2021, as compared to 801,100 persons in June 2021.

Datuk Seri Uzir further noted that the labour market was generally positively associated with economic performance. “The implementation of the NRP has allowed some flexibility for economic and service activities to resume in line with the NRP’s phases. This targeted strategy has brought some light for the labour market to recover progressively,” he said.

In spite of that, the chief statistician also cautioned that challenges to the labour market may persist due to the uncertainty posed by the public health situation. “On this note, collaboration and awareness of the whole nation comprising of individuals, community as well as businesses are crucial to ensure herd immunity can be achieved, thus will be able to revive the country’s economy and labour market,” he said.

(Source: DOSM [1, 2])

• TAGS:
• Covid-19
• Covid-19 Economy
• Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin
• Department of Statistics Malaysia
• DOSM
• Malaysia Unemployment Rate
• Unemployment
• Unemployment Rate