KUALA LUMPUR – MIDF Research is retaining its unemployment rate forecast at 4.5% this year, taking into account recent developments in the domestic job market.
In a note today, it said overall employment continued to trend upwards.
“With the further easing of the restrictions and improvements in domestic economic activities, we anticipate businesses will hire more employees in the upcoming months and the recovery in the labour market to strengthen going forward.
“Moreover, the downward trend in the daily Covid-19 cases along with the further progress in vaccination rate will boost sentiment among consumers and businesses to raise their spending activities and hiring plans,” it said.
In addition, the removal of the interstate travel ban and the recovery in consumer spending will also support the employment outlook for consumer-related industries, in particular, wholesale and retail trade; accommodation and F&B services, and tourism, among others.
The overall employment went up by 0.6% month-on-month (m-o-m) in September 2021, registering a new high of approximately 15.5 million individuals.
Additionally, the number of people who were recorded as employed but were temporarily idle fell by nearly half in September 2021, MIDF Research said.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate dropped further to a pandemic low of 4.5% in September 2021 (August 2021: 4.6%).
The total unemployment rate was -2.6% m-o-m in September 2021 from -3.8% in August 2021 with the number of jobless people dropping to the lowest reading since May 2021.
In addition, the number of people outside the labour force sustained a downward trend as it fell further by -0.6% m-o-m to record 7.41 million individuals, signalling many workers were encouraged to return to the workplace. – Bernama, November 9, 2021
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