The latest labour report from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) has indicated that Malaysia’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.7% in August 2022. However, the number of unemployed individuals dipped by 1.4% from the previous month, from 620,700 persons to 612,000 persons in August.

The report further noted that 82.9% of the unemployed group is categorised as actively unemployed – described as those who are unemployed but are actively looking for jobs. This translates to 507,300 persons, down by 2% from 517,400 persons in July. Meanwhile, the remaining 17.1% of the unemployed group is made up of inactively unemployed persons, equivalent to 104,700 individuals. This figure saw a slight 1.4% increase from the previous month (103,300 persons).

As for the working population, the number of employed individuals went up by 0.2%, from 15.98 million persons in July to 16.02 million persons in August. Of this total, 76% of them fell into the employees category – which itself also ticked up by 0.2% from 12.14 million persons July to 12.17 million persons in the following month. Similarly, the self-employed category remained on an upward trend with a 0.6% month-on-month increase to record 2.80 million persons, now making up 17.5% of the working population. The remaining working population consists of employers (3.4%) and unpaid family workers (3.1%).

Meanwhile, for the outside labour force group, there was a month-on-month decrease of 0.1%, from 7.25 million persons in July to 7.24 million persons in August. This group refers to individuals who are not classified as working or are unemployed, including housewives, students, retirees, and individuals uninterested in looking for a job. The largest composition of the outside labour force recorded for August was the housework/family responsibilities category at 42.9%, followed by the schooling/training category at 40.4%.

Finally, DOSM’s report noted that economic indicators have shown Malaysia’s economic performance to be improving, with a significant increase in August 2022 as compared to the previous year. “In line with the improving economic condition, the labour market is also expected to continue to flourish in the upcoming months, coupled with new entrants into the labour market as well as the entry of foreign labour into the country in the near future, which is expected to meet the increasing needs of the labour force in the market,” said DOSM.

(Source: DOSM)

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• Department Of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM)
• Malaysia Unemployment Rate
• Unemployment
• Unemployment Rate