The latest labour report from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) indicated that Malaysia’s unemployment rate for November 2021 remained the same as the previous month at 4.3%.

Despite the unchanged unemployment rate, however, the number of unemployed individuals dipped from October’s 705,000 persons to 694,400 persons in November. This is the first time that Malaysia’s number of unemployed individuals was reduced to below 700,000 persons since April 2020.

“The labour force situation in November 2021 held steady with continuing employment growth and reducing number of unemployed persons as the revival of more economic and social activities has stimulated a positive vibe to the labour market,” the chief statistician of DOSM, Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin commented with regard to the situation.

Datuk Seri Uzir explained that another five states had moved into Phase 4 of the National Recovery Plan during November – except for Kelantan and Sarawak, who were both still caught in Phase 3. “Additionally, the overall [full] vaccination rate remained in an increase, while the number of daily Covid-19 cases continued to decline. These encouraging circumstances resulted in more travelling activities domestic and abroad during the month, hence influencing the labour market in November 2021,” he further said.

The chief statistician also shared that 83.8% of those in the unemployed category was made up of the actively unemployed – defined as those who are actively seeking jobs. This group declined by 1.3% from the previous month. The number of those who were inactively unemployed, on the other hand, dipped 2.5% from 115,400 persons in October to 112,600 persons in November.

Meanwhile, the number of employed persons continued its upward trend for the fourth consecutive month, increasing 0.4% month-on-month to record 15.61 million persons in November (as compared to 15.55 million persons in October). Of this figure, the employees’ category accounted for 76.9% of the group – with a growth of 0.2% from the previous month – whereas the own-account worker category grew by 0.8%, logging in 2.63 million persons in November as compared to 2.61 million persons in October. The remaining number of employed individuals fell under the unpaid family worker and employer categories.

Commenting on the overall labour force situation in Malaysia, Datuk Seri Uzir said that Malaysia has been gradually improving since August 2021 as most economic and social activities were allowed to operate in accordance to strict standard operating procedures (SOPs). This, in turn, translates to more job opportunities.

“With the recent flood disasters that hit the central and east coast of the country, the impact is foreseen to be more localised and may not be substantial to the entire labour market. Besides, the recovery path also may face some challenges with the presence of a new Covid-19 variant of Omicron,” the chief statistician further noted.

(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