Malaysia’s unemployment rate holds at a decade-low 3.0% in July

Malaysia’s unemployment rate remained steady at a decade-low 3.0% in July, a figure suggesting near full employment and continued stability of the nation’s labour force, according to recent data from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) on Wednesday.

Chief Statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the labour market sustained its positive trajectory, buoyed by the continued improvement in the nation’s economy despite global economic uncertainties.

The country’s labour pool expanded by 0.2% month-on-month to 17.4 million, while the number of unemployed individuals saw a slight increase of 0.6% to 521,600. The labour force participation rate remained unchanged at 70.8%.

Gains in employment were broad-based, with the number of employees rising to 12.7 million and self-employed workers to 3.21 million. Spearheading the growth is Malaysia’s services industry, particularly the wholesale and retail trade, accommodation, food and beverage services, and information and communication sectors. 

The manufacturing, construction, agriculture, and mining and quarrying sectors also saw an uptick in jobs. 

The DOSM report also highlighted improvements in underemployment. The number of people working less than 30 hours per week decreased by 1% to 240,500 persons in June. Similarly, the number of persons classified under time-related unemployment, or who are working less than 30 hours per week but willing to work more hours, fell by 2.1% to 134,800. 

The DOSM noted that 79.8% of the total unemployed persons include those who were available for work and are actively seeking jobs, as well as those who are actively unemployed.

“The number of actively unemployed expanded by 0.4% to 416,200 persons. Within this group, those who were unemployed for less than three months comprised 64.3%, while those who were in long-term employment for more than a year encompassed 5.1%,” Mohd said.