KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s unemployment rate increased to 4.5% last year, the highest since 1993, when the unemployment rate was recorded at 4.1%, according to the Malaysian Statistics Department.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said unemployment rose to 4.8% last December, equivalent to 772,900 persons, while the number of employed individuals edged up 0.1% month-on-month, equivalent to 19,300 persons, to 15.22 million persons after registering a marginal decrease the previous month.
“The employment-to-population ratio, which indicates the ability of an economy to create employment, remains unchanged at 65.1%,” he said in a statement on the Statistics of Labour Force for December and Fourth Quarter of last year.
He said employed persons by status of employment in the employee’s category, which comprised 77.6% of the overall employment, augmented by 0.2%, or 23,500 persons, to 11.81 million persons against the previous month.
He said own-account workers, which comprised 15.8% of the overall employment, continued to decrease for the third month by 0.6% to 2.4 million persons last December.
He added that this group consisted of mostly daily wage earners working at farmers’ markets, night markets, stalls, freelancers and smallholders.
“The number of employed persons who were temporarily not working, increased to 146,200 persons from 142,000 persons in November last year, due to the implementation of movement control orders throughout the whole month, as well as a short school break and festive holiday.”
Uzir said the labour market condition is still influenced by the health crisis and economic consequences in December last year, causing a slower recovery momentum in the labour market.
He said, however, the labour market remains competitive, with the number of labour force increasing by 27,800 persons to 15.99 million persons last December, from 15.96 million persons the previous month.
The labour force participation rate remains at 68.4%.
“Hence, it is foreseen that Malaysia’s labour market will remain in a challenging situation in early 2021, but various assistance and initiatives introduced by the government will cushion the impact of the pandemic on the labour market.” – Bernama, February 8, 2021
