KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 7 — The country’s labour market is projected to strengthen further in the fourth quarter of this year with the unemployment rate expected to decline further from an average of 4.67 per cent in the third quarter to 4.31 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2021.
This projection is contained in the report “Quarterly Labour Market Perspectives-A Sign of Labour Market Rebound” published by the EIS-UPMCS (EU-ERA) Centre for Future Labour Market Studies.
EU-ERA is a collaborative research centre between the Office of the Employment Insurance System (SIP) of the Social Security Organisation (Socso), the Ministry of Human Resources and Universiti Putra Malaysia Consultancy & Services (UPMCS).
Socso chief executive Datuk Seri Dr Mohammed Azman Aziz Mohammed, in a statement, said the quarterly report also expects the loss of employment (LOE) rate to decrease from 15,753 people in the third quarter to 12,105 people in the fourth quarter.
“Socso through the EU-ERA also estimates that the 2022 unemployment rate will be around 4.0 to 4.1 if the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grows at a rate of between 5.5 to 6.5 percent,” he said.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate showed a steady downward trend from 4.84 per cent in July to 4.64 per cent in August and is expected to reach 4.54 per cent in September 2021 while the LOE is also stable at 15,753 people in the third quarter of 2021.
According to the report, in the third quarter of 2021, the job market was found to remain a ‘trapezoid’ which reflects the imbalance between job seekers and job opportunities, but the recovery of the labour market in the quarter is expected to reduce the gap.
Meanwhile, Socso also found that the labour market until the end of this year still needs continuous support and intervention so that the unemployment rate and job loss can be reduced.
“The initiatives and incentives on job creation and retention announced by the government in Budget 2022 are timely and in line with the recovery needed by the labour market,” he said.
The full report is available via https://eiscentre.perkeso.gov.my
— Bernama
