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At the same time, the number of unemployed persons continued on its downward trend, registering a fall of 0.3%.
Malaysia's economic landscape showed moderate growth in the first half of 2023, at 4.2%.
According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), Malaysia's economy may experience a growth rate exceeding 4.8%, with the rapid implementation of the MADANI Economic Narrative by government ministries and agencies.
In addition to a surge in domestic tourism and promising prospects in the health tourism sector, these positive economic outlooks have opened up more job opportunities in the labour market as more businesses expanded during the month to complement Malaysia’s stable economic performance. In line with this, the labour force in August continued to experience moderate growth, registering an increasing number of employed persons and a lower number of unemployed.
Employed persons remained on a positive trend with a month-on-month increase of 0.1%, or equivalent to 19,900 persons to record 16.35mn persons in August 2023 (July 2023: 16.34mn persons). Similarly, in terms of seasonally adjusted, the number of employed persons grew by 0.2%.
In the meantime, the number of employed persons continued to rise by 2.1%, equivalent to 337,200 persons year-on-year (August 2022: 16.02mn persons).
By economic sector, the number of employed persons in the services sector continued its upward trend, largely in:
- wholesale & retail trade;
- food & beverage services; and
- transportation and storage activities.
In addition, the manufacturing, agriculture, construction as well as mining & quarrying sectors also registered increases in the number of employed persons during the month.
August’s employment-to-population ratio, which indicates the ability of an economy to create employment, stood at 67.7% as in the previous month. Likewise, on a yearly basis, the ratio rose by 0.6p.p compared to the 67.1% registered in August 2022.
The number of employed persons who were temporarily not working recorded an increase of 2.8% (2,300 persons) to reach 83,200 persons (July 2023: 80,900 persons). The report attributes this increase partly to the school holidays during the month.
August unemployment rate remains unchanged
The number of unemployed persons continued on its downward trend, registering a fall of 0.3% (1,900 persons) to record 577,300 persons (July 2023: 579,200 persons).
Overall, August’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.4% as recorded last month. In the meantime, on seasonally adjusted terms, the number of unemployed edged up by 1.4%, recording the same unemployment rate of 3.4%.
Compared to August 2022, the number of unemployed persons reduced by 5.7%, or equivalent to a drop of 34,700 persons (August 2022: 612,000 persons). The unemployment rate dropped by 0.3p.p as compared to August last year (3.7%).
In the unemployment category, most of the unemployed persons were actively unemployed or those who were available for work and were actively seeking jobs, comprising 80% of the total unemployed persons.
This category is continuing to decline, with a decrease of 0.6% (2,600 persons) to record 462,100 thousand persons (July 2023: 464,700 persons).
Out of the total actively unemployed, those who were unemployed for less than three months encompassed 61.4%, while those who were in long-term unemployment for over a year constituted 6.2%.
Meanwhile, those who believed that there were no jobs available or were inactively unemployed went up by 0.6% (700 persons) to 115,200 persons from 114,500 persons in July 2023.
Lastly, the labour force strengthened further in August 2023 by 0.1% (17,900 persons) month-on-month to record 16.93mn persons (July 2023: 16.91mn persons). At the same time, August’s labour force participation rate (LFPR) remained steady at 70.1% as of July 2023. The number of labour force based on the seasonally adjusted estimate, rose by 0.1% and the LFPR remained at 70.2%.
Annually, the number of labour force increased by 1.8% (302,400 persons) from 16.63mn persons in August 2022. Consequently, the LFPR edged up by 0.4p.p compared to 69.7% from the previous year.
The number of persons outside the labour force during the month registered an addition of 6,300persons (0.1%) to 7.23mn persons (July 2023: 7.23mn persons). Meanwhile, the number of outside labour force dropped by 10,700 persons (-0.1%) year-on-year (August 2022: 7.24mnpersons).
Breaking this down, the largest composition of the outside labour force was due to housework/family responsibilities at 42.9%, followed by schooling/training at 40.1%.
Lead image / Department of Statistics Malaysia
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