KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s unemployment rate rose by a marginal 0.1 percentage point month-on-month to 4.8% last November, with 764,400 jobless folk recorded, said the Statistics Department today.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin, in a statement, said the conditional movement control order implemented that month saw economic activities being undertaken with strict adherence to standard operating procedures against Covid-19, resulting in a slight decrease in the employment rate.
“Among others, it may be due to… the cancellation or freezing of new hires.”
He said the number of unemployed individuals rose 2.2%, or 16,200 people, to 764,400 in November, from 748,200 the previous month.
The actively unemployed – defined as individuals available and actively looking for work – went up 2.3% to 637,700 people from 623,100 in October.
“Likewise, the inactively unemployed… increased by 1.3% to 126,700 persons, from 125,100 in October.”
He said the number of unemployed folk fell by 11,000 persons to 15.2 million in November, compared with 15.21 million the previous month, after recording an upward trend for five straight months.
During the month under review, those in the “employees” category increased by 0.2%, or 19,600 persons, to 11.78 million, while “own-account workers” dropped 0.6% to 2.41 million persons.
Overall, said Uzir, growth in the labour force was almost flat, with an additional 5,200 people taking the figure to 15.96 million in November, while the labour force participation rate declined marginally by 0.1 percentage point to 68.4% from the 68.5% in October.
“Meanwhile, the number of persons outside the labour force went up by 0.4%, or 27,100 persons, to 7.37 million, compared with 7.35 million in October. Among others, the increase may be due to people taking a break from job-seeking, for family reasons.”
Given the continuous uncertainty in the economic and health situations globally, he said, softer labour demand may continue into December 2020.
“Meanwhile, the labour supply will remain competitive in this challenging situation.” – Bernama, January 11, 2021
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