Employment-to-population ratio in Malaysia rose to 67.9% in January 2024

The number of employed persons continued on an upward trend, with a rise of 0.2% from December 2023 to record 16.48mn persons.

The Department of Statistics, Malaysia (DOSM) released the January 2024 Labour Force Statistics on Friday (8 March 2024), focusing on statistics between January 2023 to January 2024. 

According to the press release, Chief Statistician Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin said: "The country's labour market sustained its
upward trend, in line with the ongoing improvement of the national economic situation and consistent with global economic expansion." 

Highlights from the statistics are as follows: 

Employment 

1. The rate of employment rose from 67.3% in January 2023 (16.16mn persons) to 67.9% in January 2024 (16.48mn persons).
2. 75.2% of employed workers fell under the 'employee' category, of which: 

• 3% came from unpaid family workers, 
• 3.5% were employers
• 18.3% were from own-account workers 

Unemployment 

1. The rate of unemployment stands at 3.3%, which comes up to 567300 persons.
2. Unemployment rate dropped from 3.6% (596100 persons) in January 2023 to 3.3% (567300 persons) in January 2024. 

Labour force & labour force participation rate (LPFR) 

1. In January 2023, the labour force was 16.76mn persons and the LPFR came up to 69.8%. 
2. In January 2024, the labour force increased to 17.05mn persons, therefore increasing the LPFR to 70.2%. 
3. When broken down further by sex, the statistics showed that 83.1% were male, and 56.5% were female. 

Outside labour market

1. In January 2024, the major composition of the outside labour force was housework/ family responsibilities (42.5%), whereas 40.8% derived from schooling/training. 

Dato' Sri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin added that in early 2024, the Malaysia's labour market is anticipated to improve and remain stable over the next few months, driven by a resilient domestic economy. 

"This situation is expected to continue to generate increased demand for employment, thus serving as an important key to sustaining economic stability." 

More information on the labour market can be obtained through the Malaysian Labour Market Interactive Data (MyLMID)

READ MORE: DOSM's review of Malaysia's economic situation in Q4 2023 

Lead image / DOSM