Malaysia employment data Q4 2020: Total jobs in the private sector declined by 15,000

There were 8,281 thousand filled jobs with rate of 97.9%. In the meantime, the rate of vacancies was 2.1% encompassing 176 thousand vacancies.

Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) has released its quarterly survey for Q4 2020 on formal private sector establishments encompassing agriculture, mining & quarrying, manufacturing, construction, and services. 

The most important data is presented as follows:

1. Jobs and vacancies 

The total jobs in the private sector during Q4 2020 declined 15,000 to 8,457 thousand jobs (Q4 2019: 8,661 thousand jobs). There were 8,281 thousand filled jobs with rate of 97.9%. In the meantime, the rate of vacancies was 2.1% encompassing 176 thousand vacancies.

2. Labour demand by skill

• Jobs in the skilled category in Q4 2020 dropped by 36 thousand to 2,065 thousand on jobs (Q4 2019: 2,101 thousand jobs). Out of this total, 98% was filled jobs (2,025 thousand) while the remaining 2% per cent were vacancies (41 thousand). There were 5 thousand jobs created.
• Semi-skilled category had a share of 62.4% or 5,279 thousand jobs. The number of jobs declined by 129 thousand from 5,408 thousand in Q4 2019. There were 98.1% filled jobs (5,181 thousand) and 1.9% of vacancies (98 thousand). More than half of jobs created were in this category which accounted 63.2% of the total jobs created (11 thousand).
• Jobs in low-skilled category decreased by 40 thousand. Low-skilled jobs comprised 96.7% of filled jobs (1,076 thousand) and 3.3% of vacancies (37 thousand). During this quarter, a total of one thousand jobs were created.

3. Labour demand by economic activity

• More than half of jobs and filled jobs were in the services sector with a share of 51.6% (4,368 thousand) and 52.4% (4,341 thousand) respectively.
• Filled jobs in the manufacturing sector was 2,159 thousand, which represented 26.1% of total filled jobs.
• Together, services and manufacturing sectors made up 78.3% of jobs (6,625 thousand), which accounted for 98.1% of the total filled jobs.
• Among vacancies, the largest share was concentrated in the manufacturing sector with 55.6%, followed by agriculture (16.8%), and services (15.4%). The construction and mining & quarrying sectors accounted for 12% and 0.3% of vacancies respectively.
• Jobs created were largely in the manufacturing sector with a percentage share of 40.5%. The services sector ranked a close second at 38.4% share, followed by construction (16.3%), agriculture (4.4%) and mining & quarrying (0.5%).

 Photo / DOSM

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