KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 — The labour market is on a steady path to recovery with the unemployment rate in the country showing a downward trend with only 600,900 (persons) in November 2022, compared to 602,000 in October 2022, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin in a statement today said the unemployment rate remained at 3.6 per cent, claiming the positive outlook was because of the development of current economic activities in the country.
“In November 2022, the labour market further strengthened in line with the development of current economic activities. Thus, the labour force situation continued to expand during the month with an increase in the number of employed persons while the number of unemployed persons dropped,” he said.
Mohd Uzir said the labour force kept increasing in November 2022 with an addition of 0.2 per cent month-on-month to 16.71 million persons compared to 16.68 million in October, while the labour force participation rate rose by 0.1 percentage points to register 69.8 per cent (October 2022: 69.7 per cent).
“At the same time, the number of employed persons continued to increase by 0.2 per cent month-on-month to 16.11 million persons (October 2022: 16.08 million persons),” he said.
Mohd Uzir added the employee’s category, which covers 75.8 per cent of the total employed persons, continued to record 12.21 million persons, an increase of 0.1 per cent in Nov 2022 from Oct 2022 12.20 million persons, adding that the self-employed categories are also on an upward trend, with an increase of 0.5 per cent to 2.85 million persons.
“In terms of the economic sector, the number of employed persons in the Services sector continued to increase, especially in Wholesale & retail trade; Food & beverage services and Information & communication activities. Similar trends were also observed in the Manufacturing, Construction, Agriculture, Mining and quarrying sectors,” he said.
Mohd Uzir noted during the same month the unemployment rate for youth aged 15 to 24 edged down by 0.2 per cent to 11.9 per cent, recording the number of unemployed youths at 329,300 persons in comparison to 337,200 thousand in Oct 2022.
“As for the inactivity groups, the number of foreign labour force continued to decline with a reduction of 0.02 per cent to 7.24 million persons (October 2022: 7.24 million persons).
“The main reason for the outside labour force was because of housework/family responsibilities with 43.1 per cent, followed by schooling or training with 41.3 per cent,” he said.
The chief statistician also said the ongoing operation of all economic and social activities until the end of 2022, has allowed the nation’s economy to grow rapidly which provides an optimistic expectation for a steady recovery in the labour market in line with the current positive economic developments, especially in early 2023.
— Bernama
