KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 — Malaysia’s unemployment rate rose by a marginal 0.1 percentage point month-on-month to 4.8 per cent in November 2020 with 764,400 unemployed persons, the Department of Statistics Malaysia said today.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the Conditional Movement Control Order implemented during the month, which saw economic activities continuing to operate with adherence to strict standard operating procedures, resulted in a small decrease in employment while the unemployment rate was slightly higher compared with the previous month.
“Among others, this may be due to job losses and cancellation or freezing of new hires,” he said in a statement today.
Mohd Uzir said the number of unemployed persons rose by 2.2 per cent or 16,200 persons to 764,400 in November (October 2020: 748,200 persons).
The actively unemployed — defined as persons who are available for work and are actively looking for work — went up by 2.3 per cent to 637,700 persons (October 2020: 623,100 persons).
“Likewise, the inactively unemployed or discouraged group who believed there were no jobs available increased by 1.3 per cent to 126,700 persons (October 2020: 125,100 persons),” he said.
Elaborating on the employment situation, Mohd Uzir said the number of employed persons dropped by 11,000 persons to 15.20 million persons in November (October 2020: 15.21 million persons) after recording an upward trend for five consecutive months.
During the month under review, those in the employees category increased by 0.2 per cent (19,600 persons) to 11.78 million persons while own-account workers dropped by 0.6 per cent to 2.41 million persons.
Overall, he said, the growth in labour force was almost flat, with an additional 5,200 persons to 15.96 million persons in November 2020, while the labour force participation rate (LFPR) dropped marginally by 0.1 percentage point to 68.4 per cent (October 2020: 68.5 per cent).
“Meanwhile, the number of persons outside the labour force went up by 0.4 per cent (27,100 persons) to 7.37 million persons (October 2020: 7.35 million persons). Among others, the increase might be due to persons taking a break in job-seeking for family reasons,” he said.
He said with the continuous uncertainty in the economic and health situations worldwide as well as in the country, softer labour demand might continue in December 2020.
“Meanwhile, the labour supply will remain competitive in this challenging situation,” he added.
— Bernama
