KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s income from e-commerce transactions rose 23.3% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM267.6 billion in the second quarter of 2021 (Q2 2021), mainly driven by the manufacturing and services sectors, according to the Statistics Department.
In a statement today, the department said services sector revenue jumped 20.5% y-o-y to RM404.5 billion in Q2 2021 due to the low base effect.
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said under the services sector, revenue of the wholesale and retail trade, food and beverages (F&B), and accommodation segment increased 21.8% y-o-y to RM324.6 billion.
This was followed by the information, communication, transportation, and storage segment, which grew 14.7% y-o-y to RM59.5 billion, he said.
Uzir added that the health, education, arts, entertainment, and recreation segment grew 27.3% y-o-y to RM12.2 billion, while the professional and real estate agent segment was 8% higher at RM8.2 billion.
On salaries and wages paid in the services sector in Q2 2021, Uzir said they increased by 0.4%, or RM100.5 million compared with the same quarter last year.
“The growth was contributed to by the information, communication, transportation, and storage segment which increased to RM120.8 million or 2.8%,” he said.
The chief statistician said that this was followed by the wholesale and retail trade, F&B, and accommodation segment, which rose RM9.3 million, while the health, education, arts, entertainment, and recreation segment increased to RM3.0 million in Q2 2021.
Despite higher salaries and wages being paid in the quarter under review, Uzir pointed out that the number of people engaged in the services sector declined to 3.6 million people or -0.7% y-o-y.
He said the decrease mainly came from the information, communication, transportation, and storage segment, which saw a fall of 11,297 people engaged or -2.4%.
This was followed by the wholesale and retail trade, F&B, and accommodation segment which recorded 6,127 people or -0.2%.
The number of persons engaged in the health, education, arts, entertainment, and recreation segment fell to 4,772 people or -1.7%, while the professional and real estate agent segment also declined to 3,616 people or -2.0%, added Uzir. – Bernama, August 11, 2021
